


Blur

by CaptainKylie



Category: DC Comics, Young Justice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-16
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2018-02-21 10:58:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 31,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2465786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainKylie/pseuds/CaptainKylie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Begins 16 years after the the finale of Young Justice. After Wally West "ceased" Artemis Crock discovered she was pregnant. 16 years later Irey West finds out she may be the key bringing her father back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Greetings fellow fan fiction nerds! This is my first time ever posting any fan fiction here. And anything I've ever posted online has been pretty silly stuff. I won't say "go easy on me". Be tough. Give me the harsh feedback I probably need. I also cannot promise to update this regularly but if people are enjoying this then, I'll try my very best. Enjoy!!!!

 

   With a huff and sigh, Irey West pulled herself out of bed. The 16 year-old groaned, irritated by the sound of her own alarm, which was soon joined by the sound of her stomach growling. Irey rolled her eyes. Speedster metabolism. Always hungry.  
Turning off her alarm, she stood and began dressing herself in her Gotham Acedemy uniform. Leaving her room, she joined her twin brother, Jai at the table, where she found a large plate of breakfast awaiting. Groggily she ate at a typical speedster pace: Fast.  
Artemis walked back into the kitchen and dining area finishing pulling her hair into a ponytail. The single mother rammbled reminders of not hacking school computers to Jai and no speeding around recklessly to Irey and that good 'ol Uncle Dick would be here soon to drive them and a certain Damian Wayne to school. Kissing there heads she left and Iris wiped her face.  
"She seems better." she said. "Only because she went out last night." Jai said still eating at a normal pace.  
Irey narrowed her eyes. "She what?"  
   "Went out."Jai replied simply. "Like on patrol...?"  
"No, stupid. She hooked up with Dick." Jai deadpanned taking care of his now empty plate.  
"you're not serious." Irey was stunned. This was the first she we heard of any such thing. And Uncle Dick helped raise her and Jai. He stepped in when Artemis found out she was pregnant just days after her father, Wally West, ceased.  
Artemis struggled with some depression and didn't even know if she wanted to have kids. Dick, who took a break from the hero thing, stepped in like any good friend. But things...changed.  
"I'm serious. You didn't notice a few months ago when she was all happy after going out? And suddenly Dick is over here all the time, helping her and giving mom these looks..." Jai cringed at the thoughts.  
"I never...I never thought they could. Ew..." Iris stammered.  
The sound of a car horn beeped out front.  
"Time to face the man that f-"  
"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Iris cut him off.  
Grabbing their bags they headed out the door to see the shiny, black luxury sports car of a one Dick Grayson. Sliding in the back, Dick smirked from behind his darkened sunglasses.  
"Hey guys." He sad cooly.  
"Hey." they said in unison.   
Dick chuckled an revved the engine. "Good morning Damian." Iris beamed from the back to a brooding Damian who sat shotgun. His arms crossed and uniform on neatly, he scowled and simply nodded to her.  
Dick's smirked only deepened. He noticed. And he knew. Any other person who dare spoke to him in such a cheerful manner, at this early hour and he would have spat an insult in their face. But never to Irey. Damian Wayne had a crush and Iris West was completely oblivious.  
School went by like any typical day. People giving the three odd looks at the outcasted. Sure they had their normal friends but they could never know their secret. Ever. Or else...Batman...'Nuff said.

 ~~~~~~~~

   At Mount Justice, Iris quickly changed into something better suited to move in: a cropped athletic shirt which showed off her bit of abs. And shorts with her sneakers.  
Pulling her goggles down, over her eyes, Iris sped into the mission and training room grabbing a snack on the way.  
Jai typed away on the league computer systems. Colin, Lian, Milargo and all stood about talking. Damian, sulking in the corner. Iris narrowed her green eyes at him and sped over.  
"West!"  
"Oh sorry Dami. Didn't mean to scare you." she apologized.  
"Tt I wasn't scared."Damian looked away. "Riiiighttt...Anyway what's up?"  
Damian looked at her, eye to eye for the first time since she ha approached him. He stared for a second and notice how she wouldn't flinch or frown unlike the others who would around him. Especially when he glared. Or Dick who would just chuckle and make a remark.  
"Uh. Nothing. Waiting for training." he said peeling his eyes away from her bright ones.  
Her dimples appeared on both cheeks and it took to much will power to not smile back.  
"Let's do a little one-on-one then, until we start." Irey suggested.  
Damian played it cool and shrugged a yes. He pulled off his sweatshirt revealing his work-out attire.  
"Looks like we got a match!" someone called and turned on the sparring software.  
As the pair entered the center of the room.  
Various cheers erupted from fellow young heroes.  
"No powers." Damian muttered.  
"No problem." Iris said.  
Damian charged forcibly but Irey dodged and aimed a kick his ankles. He deflected. They were evenly matched and it was hard to say who would win.  
   Damian getting tired of the less then heated sparring match decided to kick it up a notch, literally. Aiming a kick to her stomach, Irey fell.  
"Fail. Impulse." the computer announced and the team applauded. Damian smirked slightly. Turning back to Irey he saw she was still on the ground. Clutching her head she screamed out in pain.  
"Iris?!" Lian and Milargo were soon at her side as she seemed to be in a fit of pain. Her scream escalated into a scream of bloody murder.  
"What did you do?!" Jai yelled giving Damian a push. Who quickly pushed Jai's hands away.  
"Nothing. It wasn't a headshot. You saw!".  
Iris was sweating now. The red headed speedster cried out and tears from something agonizing rolled down her freckled cheeks.  
"someone call for help." Lian stated.  
   As if on que, Nightwing zetaed to the cave. He quickly scanned the scene.  
"What happened?!" he demanded.  
"Damian and Iris were sparring he kicked her in the gut and now this..." Milago said.  
Nightwing shoved his way through the teens and examined her quickly. It was clearly nothing Damian had done. Reaching into his utility belt, he pulled out a syringe and needle. Injected a clear liquid into her forearm. She slowly calmed and laid unconscious.  
Dick scooped her into his arms.  
"Call Artemis." he said to Jai and he made his way to the medical bay.

~~~~~~` 

The medical machines beeped slowly but strongly. Artemis sat at her daughters bed side, slowly stroking her hand over Irey's.  
Several hours and many tests and debates with Flash, Kidflash and others later, it was still unclear what had happened. All that was left to do is wait and see.  
Nightwing stood silently away from Artemis. Jai and Damian in the cave lounge. Sitting across from each other, Jai glared. Damian rolled his eyes.  
"Tt West. You're wasting your energy. You know I did not cause this." the young Robin scoffed.  
"You as so much lay another finger on my sister again-"  
"Tt you'll what? You don't have powers. Hardly any combat training." Damian crossed his arms.  
"you don't know what I'm capable of."  
Iris awoke slowly, A migraine taking over her head. Artemis perked up and looked at her daughter worriedly. Nightwing the same.  
Irey took a deep breathe and opened her eyes fully. Her eyes adjusted and she turned her head to her mother.  
"Iris..." Artemis started.  
"I...I saw dad..." Iris said quietly.  
Nightwing stopped dead. Artemis' mouth agape.  
"Iris. What did you just say?"  
"Dad. I saw him." Irey's voice sounding more confident.  
"Tell us exactly what happened." Nightwing demanded yet keeping a gentle tone.  
"Right before Damian kicked me...I got an image in my head. Of dad. He looks just like the pictures but older...And suddenly it hurt to see him..."  
Artemis stared intently, unable to believe her daughter's words.  
"And once I fell...he hurt more. Because he was talking. Telling me things..."  
Nightwing stood right next to Artemis now.  
"What exactly did you hear?" Dick asked, skeptically.  
"He said 'I'm alive. Speedforce. Pocketdimesion. Speedsters. Spitfire.' and then he was going to say something else but I passed out I guess."  
Artemis had tears in her eyes. Never had she ever told her kids about Spitfire. What Wally had called her all the time. 'My little spitfire.' all the hope she had been put away after the investigation died out years ago. Now she could pull it out and dust it off. Because before her, her own daughter was now a direct link to him. Wally. Her Wally.  
Nightwing juggled the words and situation back and forth in his mind.  
"A pocketdimesion." he said aloud.  
"There was no body Dick. She could be right..."Artemis said looking up at him from her chair.  
"I'll have the Flash look into it. For now, Iris, rest." Nightwing left.  
Artemis rejected the oncoming tears with her hand.  
"How are you feeling?" she asked the young girl in front of her.  
"Alright."  
"hungry?"  
"Always."

 

   As Dick left the med bay, he passed through the common room in which the boys were waiting.  
His entrance sparked their standing.  
   "Is she alright?" Jai asked. Damian remained quiet.  
"you may visit." Dick said passively Not stopping on a mission to make some calls and conduct some research.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. Thanks for the kudos and comment! This chapter I start to use a little language and sexual themes (no smut I promise!) I will try my hardest to continue this! Send me suggestions and critiques please and thank you! Enjoy!  
> ~Kylie

Tick Tock Tick Tock

   Damian stared at the classroom clock. U.S History was possibly the most boring subject. But he thought that about every class he took. Despite Mr. Schnight's honest attempts to make the class interesting, the ebony haired boy was completely focused on the fact that there was precisely 2 minutes and 23 seconds remaining before he could go to Mount Justice.  
Irey. He really wanted to go to go see Irey. She had been out of school since the Monday it happened, it was now Friday. Jai was telling everyone she had strep throat. But in reality she was having 'episodes' more and more everyday. Each time she came to she had some new detail about her father proving more and more each time he was well and alive in some unknown dimension.  
The bell finally rang and Damian couldn't have stood up any faster.  
   "Hey Damian, do you wanna-"  
"No." Damian cut a peer off storming out the classroom. Malia Thomsen looked offended. The blonde haired girl then gave a bitchy glare.  
"Don't worry about him he's just a spoiled brat. Shouldn't have tried to invite him anyway. He hangs out with that freak, Iris." Malia's friend, Alexa, rather loudly consoled her.  
   Damian Wayne couldn't have whipped around to face them faster.  
His face turning red in a pure overreaction of rage.  
"Shut up." He gritted slowly.  
"It speaks." Jeremy Lownot said sarcastically. The well-known ass hat leaned back in his chair feet up on a desk. He looked the part of the stereotypical jock that had a rep of being a total jerk.  
   They were now the four in the classroom. Damian, Malia, Alexa and Jeremy. The teacher even now gone.  
"You bastards. You know nothing of us, and are to ignorant make any comment. You uneducated swine." Damian's Arabic accent became more pronounced as he allowed the anger to consume him.  
"Pfff" Alexa sneered.  
   "Perfect couple really. You're both freaks that keep to yourselves like you've got something to hide. What is it huh? Daddy fresh out of money for your anger management? Or is he sending you back to whatever third world country you came from?" Jeremy smirked. Damian's world seemed to go black and when he woke up Alexa was crying and Jeremy was bleeding on the floor. Damian walked away with a small black eye but that was nothing for him or compared to what was probably a broken arm and cracked skull.  
He was probably going to get suspended later but he was already behind schedule. He needed to check on Irey.

 

~~~~~~

 

   At Mount Justice Lian was watching over her sleeping cousin. Her mother, Jade, stood off to the side, looking unsettled with her arms crossed over her chest. "Yes. Yes, she's fine I promise." Jade said in hushed tones into her phone, pacing the foot her bed. "Sis, I promise. She's in my hands she's totally safe. Hey. I resent that." She mused and Lian giggled looking over her favorite cousin from the chair. "Now go on. Be that big time Gotham City forensic cop or whatever it is you do." Jade hung up her phone and placed her hands on her hips shaking her head.   
  Damian b-lined right in. Not bothering to look at either of them.  
"How is she?" He said still not looking at Lian or Jade. He stood over her sleeping form  
Lian and her mother smirked the same Cheshire-like smirk.  
"We knocked her out after her last one about 2 hours ago. She'll be coming too soon." Lian said.  
Damian sighed.

 

~~~~~~~

 

   Dick's eyes narrowed. He had written down every detail from Irey. Making notes, crossing things off he thought were irrelevant. Then drawing a big "X" through it and writing it again. He didn't want to undermine anything.  
   From what he gathered, Wally West was actually alive. When he vanished, he went to a different dimension where speedersters get their speed. And Wally was pushing his own speed in an unsafe environment which is supposedly why he got transported there. This was just the beginning and based off a lot of speculation and everything seemed really blurry and mixed up. Dick and Artemis or anyone really didn't want to push Irey. It clearly caused her a lot of pain and anxiety. But she was tough and wanted to do this if it meant saving someone. Especially if that someone was her father. Even though no one was really sure they could stop it. The only thing that seemed to relieve Iris from the pain was knocking her unconscious.  
   There were still a lot of unanswered questions. Like did Wally know what he was doing? Could he communicate enough information to get him out of there and to the right dimension?  
The 34-year-old was living off coffee. He was so confused and filled with determination.  
Artemis entered the office of his apartment. Her hair was down wearing nothing but one of his button down shirts.  
She placed a hand on his shoulder and peered over it to see the mess of notes he was reviewing.  
   "What are we gonna do?" Dick asked softly, resting his head in his own hands, leaning back into Artemis' touch.  
"Figure it out. Get him back."  
"No....what are WE gonna do..." He said looking up at her. Artemis looked away.  
   "I don't know. If we do get him out of whatever dimension he's in...it's gonna be hard enough for him to deal with meeting his own kids..."  
"So we're just suppose to pretend that none of this..." He gestured to her form. Her oh-so sexy body. "..happened?"  
"No...I...don't know....he has to understand? It's been sixteen years for christ's sake. He can't expect me to wait or to even assume he's alive and coming back.  
   Dick considered this. She was beyond right. And the sex had been great. And plus they both developed mutual feelings for each other.  
But both of them wanted Wally West back....everyone did...

~~~~~~

 

   Damian handed Irey a glass of water. She sat up in her bed, Jade and Lian had left a bit ago. Damian sat in a chair at her bedside. He was being awkward, Irey thought. Damian had replaced his school clothes with a black hoodie and dark jeans, he ran a hand through his dark hair.   
She thanked him quietly for the water and sipped it.  
   "What happened to your face?" She asked casually, pointing out the blueness forming under his right eye.  
"Mission." He slouched back in his chair and crossed his arms  
"Liar." She spat back.  
Damian narrowed his eyes. "You got into a fight at school didn't you?"  
He replied with silence.  
   Irey rolled her eyes. The teenager wasn't in the mood for his sass. The dark circles under her eyes and lingering, constant migraine were enough.  
"Jeremy is an ass hole. Don't let him bug you."  
"How did you know it was Lownot?" Damian muttered sitting up a bit. "He's the only one you let bother you. You usually ignore everyone else but Jeremy knows how to push your buttons."  
   Damian was impressed with Irey's observation. She was usually pretty ADHD.  
He changed the subject. "Feeling better?"  
"Honestly no. But yes? I think my dad...could... I don't know come back...I don't want to get my hopes up but it's like I'm talking to him."  
"You are in a way aren't you?"

~~~~~~~

 

   Artemis had found her way into Dick's lap. And somehow his mouth was on hers. Her hand trailed down his torso and his on the small of her back and waist and was otherwise being very adventurous.  
She pulled away and rested her forehead on his. Breathing out calming down. She looked him in the eye and smirked.  
"What?" He asked.  
She laughed.  
   "Oh don't give me that..." He smirked back.  
Dick was about to dive back in when his phone rang. He groaned in annoyance.  
Artemis laughed, amused with his frustration.  
   "Hello?" He answered and Artemis had leaned back in his lap, giving him some space and herself some so she wouldn't be tempted...  
Dick listened to whoever was on the other end his eyes narrowing more and more by the second.  
Artemis watched his face grow more and more concerned and she began assuming the worse. She had a feeling. A mom feeling she called it. Artemis got off his lap and stood and began searching for her pants and a shirt of her own. Dick wasn't even done of the phone.  
A moment later she returned to his office fully clothed. Dick was sliding a jacket on.  
Artemis looked at him expectantly.  
   "Apparently there's an alternate dimensional-vortex surrounding your daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the delay! But thank you for the comments/messages/follows <3

    I think my dad...could... I don't know come back...I don't want to get my hopes up but it's like I'm talking to him."  
"You are in a way aren't you?" Damian looked at her curiously.  
He wasn't quite sure what she was experiencing exactly.  
    Irey sighed. He was right. It was just too surreal to accept.  
Irey nodded looking forward in her med-bay bed. Her red hair tied up in a loose bun on her head. She looked drained but still deep in thought, as always.  
Damian leaned forward in his chair beside her. He was about to say something to her. However the Boy Wonder was all interrupted.                                                                              Irey looked away from Damian, and down at her chest. Between her collar bones, she felt a furious pounding sensation. To her, it felt like she was running almost, an intense heartbeat and a noticeable rapid movement . But Irey's body was still. She began heaving for breath. Damian sat back up looking at her. This wasn't like a typical "episode". Iris clutched her chest as lightening, a red bolt struck, around the arms and hands then streaming on her chest. The bolts streamed and wrapped themselves around her limbs in thick, glowing lines of electricity.

    Damian immediately stood and looked at her like a deer caught in headlights. It wasn't until she screamed out that Damian furiously began pounding on the emergency button that was at Irey’s side.  
The bolts of red and yellow continued to intensify around Iris, whose eyes were clenched shut, both arms extended over her chest, which seemed to be the source of all this.  
Dinah and M'Gann rushed in. M'Gann wasted no time allowing her eyes to turn green as she delved into Iris' mind to find a source, or possible connection to Wally. Dinah moved over to Iris' side pushing Damian out of the way. Her first instinct was to hold Irey down as she flailed and cried out. But the lighting was red hot to the touch as it stung Dinah’s hand which quickly retracted.  
Damian ran out and called Dick.  
      Meanwhile, the second M'Gann went into Irey's head, she sensed Wally.  
_Wally? Wally can you hear me?_ The Martian mentally called out.  
_Megan?! Holy shit! thank god, finally someone I recognize! Please tell me what the fuck is going on?_  
      M'Gann had no clue how to tell him. She decided to go with her gut.  
_You've been...communicating. You disappeared during the fight with the Reach and now...it seems like you're trying to get back...._  
_Yes yes! Ok I'm in a strange pocket alternate dimension. It’s a speedster thing. I saw some kind of hole that connected this plane to the real world and figured I didn't have much to lose...._  
He trailed off.  
      In the physical world Irey's condition got worse. Dinah was trying to stabilize her, yelling to M'Gann she would need to knock Irey out soon before the electric storm of sorts, killed her.  
 _Quickly, Wally if the portal you see to real world was a person, do you think you could use them to escape or would that kill them?_  
He debated this for a moment and then said: _Wait a person? Who?_  
 _It doesn't matter right now. Hurry tell me_. M’Gann urged.  
_Um well in theory it would kill a normal human but a metahuman would have higher survival rate. Especially if it was say a speedster, because of the whole speedster dimension, if thats what this place even is…._ Wally trailed off trying to think as quickly as possible, sensing his talk with Megan was time sensitive.  
_Okay, how do we-_  
      M'Gann was cut off. Wally was gone. Irey was knocked out.  
The Martian's eyes fading back to normal and she looked at Dinah who pulled the empty syringe and needle out of Irey's arm and patted her head gently.  
"I was this close to-"  
"that thing almost killed her." The Black Canary said harshly.  
    Artemis and Dick burst into the room.  
"Dick? Artemis..." M'Gann looked to her best friend who now leaned over her daughter holding her hand which still almost burning hot.  
"What happened?" Dick demanded.  
"It was like a lightening storm coming out of her. She appeared to be having seizure, or a heart attack.. according to her vitals..." Dinah said looking at the various medical machinery around the room.  
     "I looked into her mind....Wally was there..." M'Gann began and Artemis' head shot up from where it had been looking down at Irey.  
"How could he-" Dick started but M'Gann continued.  
"He explained he was in that alternate speedster dimension...and it appears that he sees an opening and that opening seems to be Irey." M'Gann said looking away from Dick to Iris who now seemed peacefully asleep.  
"He doesn't realize it's a person...And I didn't say anything about Irey but this could be his chance at escape."  
"But what could that do to her?" Artemis asked worriedly. M'Gann recalled her conversation about Wally's theory on survival rates and such.

"We'll talk about this and decide something later....let's just...let everything cool off..." Dick looked to Artemis who was sitting on the edge of her daughter's bed. The archer nodded to him and put her attention back on Irey, while everyone else left the room.  
Artemis let out a sigh. "Iris Paula West...what am I going to do with you..."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 _//Flashback//_  
         The 14-year-old girl looked very pleased with herself. A white and red uniform, fresh and clean. A brand-new costume for the brand-new hero. Impulse was the name she had taken. To honor her mentor Bart Allen, the strange future boy who was now known as Kidflash.  
   Tigress walked up behind the young and eager hero who faced herself in a full length mirror. The Justice Leaguer pulled her cat-like mask up so she could pull the cowl mask over her daughter's eyes and handed the last piece she needed to go out on her first patrol with: A pair of red goggles.  
"These were your dad's first goggles. Your grandma Mary gave them to me when she found out you got your powers..."  
Iris held them in her hand looking at them. They had some scratches along frame, despite the wear, they were otherwise clean. She examined them closely and held them as though they might crumble in her fingers. She felt unworthy.  
  "Mom...I can't take these...." Despite this, she still clutched them in her small hands.  
Artemis' face softened.  
"Yes you can. He-"  
  Irey cut her mother off. "I don't deserve it. These were the goggles of a genius. A real hero."  
Irey trailed off holding them out to her mother. "Iris Paula West. I know for a fact that your dad would want you to wear them. Even if he were here, he'd give them to you."  
   "You don't know that for sure..."  
Artemis refused to take the goggles back and crossed her arms. The two were stubborn as they could get.  
  Dick entered the small room inside the newly established "Mount Justice". It was a large building placed right where the mountain use to be. They still called it the cave, despite it not actually being one, but the team that Aqualad ran resided there. Nightwing eventually returned to helping out once Aqualad retired.  
    Dressed as the ever intimidating Nightwing, he quickly realized what was going on.  
"Impulse. It's time to head out. KF is waiting on you." He said. Iris looked up at the man who had been the closest thing she ever had to a father. Obeying she began walking out of the room.  
    "wait a second." Nightwing said, stopping her. Impulse turned and looked at him.  
"Where are your goggles? It's team and league policy all speedsters wear goggles."  
Artemis tried to conceal a snicker. Irey raised an eyebrow.  
“Never heard that rule before.” The young speedster retaliated.  
“Well, it just got instated.” Dick winked at Artemis.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
     

   Bart looked at Barry and Barry crossed his arms over his chest.  
“I know it’s a lot to take in but it’s happening, and we need to make a decision.”  
Dick Grayson decided the best person to talk about the issue with, would be actual speedsters.  
    “I know, but you know just as well as I do, that if getting Wally out of there does a single bit of harm to Irey, he couldn’t live with himself.” Barry said uncertain. “And I want him back just as much as you do, but the risks…”  
    “I know the risks. But we cannot ignore the possibilities. I was hoping Bart here, might be able to help us out...being from the future and all…” Dick looked at Bart, now in his early 30s, now dawning the name of Flash, while Barry had retired.  
Bart sighed. “You guys know saying anything could totally mode the whole time stream…”  
    “Yes. But can you tell us anything?” Dick asked intensely. Bart scratched the back of his neck.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

(two weeks later)

     “So we all agree?” Nightwing asked. A assortment of Justice Leaguers and Team members sat a long meeting table The hour long meeting, led by Nightwing, was shorter than expected. The issue had been exhausted. No one wanted to do anything someone was unsure about. But after running the tests, and exalting theories, they all unanimously nodded their heads in agreement.  
“Then it’s settled. Wally West is coming home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment, follow, suggestions? There's more to come....thank you for reading!  
> ~kylie


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well….long time no update! Sorry but life was happening. I was working on it the whole time….like one sentence a day….but I get to give you 5 and a half pages! Thank you to all of those who have been following, commenting and giving kudos! And I hope you'll stick around for a bit longer! Enough talk, on with the chapter!

CHAPTER 4

Jai looked like Artemis. He occasionally even acted like her. His features appeared more Vietnamese than Irey. He had her dark grey eyes but his hair a dark, redish auburn. His arms were fairly muscular. Artemis had proudly trained her son with the bow and arrow and he was pretty good at it...but Jai never took up crime fighting. He fell into more of the computer hacking ways of Dick and Barbara. Although he had all that going for him, computer skills, archery, his mother’s attitude and good looks, Jai was still always envious of Irey. Everyone saw her as the amazing speedster that kept their father's memory alive and was soooo amazing. Little did Jai know, Irey was just as jealous of the bonding he got with their mother over archery.  
Laboratory scientists swarmed around Iris. She sat upright in her bed which had imprisoned her the last few weeks. The League and team had decided to move today's operation to STAR Labs. Here, they could use more extensive technology and have outside professional opinions and ensure Irey's safety.  
Jai voluntarily waited with Irey as she was prepped for today's task of another communication with his father. He had to stand off to side, out of the way of the scientists and doctors but he kept a close eye on her staring at the scene. But Irey stared right back. They weren't claiming to have twin telepathy or anything but it was kinda of like a silent understanding of what the other was thinking. And Iris knew what Jai was thinking. He was thinking about how worried he was. It had been another two weeks since everyone made the decision to try to get Wally back had been made. Today, the goal was to have M'Gann communicate and see if they could come up with a way to bring Wally back to their dimension.  
The clock struck noon and Nightwing walked in on que. M'Gann, Superboy and Artemis accompanying him.  
Jai watched as a needle was struck into Irey's upper arm. STAR scientists had came up with a solution they believed would trigger Wally to come through. Within in a few moments Iris' faces scrunched up and and Artemis was at her side stroking her hair breathing soft words to her ear.  
"M'Gann." Nightwing said and she nodded stepping closer placing a hand on Irey's head next to Artemis'.  
_Wally? It's M'Gann. Are you here?_  
Wally suddenly appeared to the Martian.  
_Yes. Okay what's the plan? What's going on?_

_You tell me. How can we get you out?_

_Okay well I've been doing some thinking and I think I got this. This connection I'm having right now is kind of likes the halfway point. If I start generating speed and momentum. Whoever is out there will have to brace themselves. If I'm right it will create a dark worm hole just big enough for me to get through. Whatever is letting me project myself halfway will need_  
_that stimulate that you told me about but a lot more..._

 _Wally...whats the risk?_ Megan's voice softened. She thought of Irey. Seeing the sweet girl she had watched grow up and be a light in Artemis' dark life suffer was dejected enough. Thinking of her getting hurt or worse was unbearable. 

_Either death to me or this thing, person? That's projecting me and you won't tell me what it or who it is...or death for us both due to a molecular explosion or nothing with happen or this could work and everything would be fine?_

_But the likelihood?_  
Wally thought on this for a moment.  
_50/50. I'm sure of it._ Wally responded back confidently 

M'Gann now thought on this.  
_Alright...I'll talk to Dick and be back soon._  
M'Gann's eyes turned back to their natural deep Martian red. Dick and Artemis perked up, as Superboy stood next to Jai, both their arms crossed over their chests.  
After explaining the predicament to everyone, Dick looked to Artemis. Ultimately it was her choice. She looks to Irey's face. If anything happened to her, it would be her fault. But there was this chance here...presenting itself right before her own eyes. Since becoming a mother a  
Artemis' natural impulsive ways had faded to motherly impulses and for the first time in 16 years, Artemis decided to be borderline reckless.  
"do it." She said firmly. Jai looked almost shocked. Superboy's arms dropping to his sides and taking steps closer. Of all things she could have said, this was the most unexpected.

~~~~~~~

It all happened so quickly. People everywhere talking and whispering to one another. Jai was asked to leave the room M'Gann refocused her mind. Superboy ensured no unwanted visitors got in. Nightwing oversaw exactly every detail of what the plan was. And Artemis remained surprisingly calm.  
Focusing her mind, the Martian announced her readiness. Nightwing looked to Artemis as though he was expecting her to stand and call everything off and change her mind. But the archer just looked back at his masked eyes and nodded.  
Giving M'gann the "okay", her eyes turned a glowing green. Moments of silence passed. The air tense. Everyone was afraid to look away from Miss Martian and Iris like they might miss it. Whatever "it" was. No one knew just what to expect. But then it happened so suddenly. It was like a wind storm and lightning of strange colors took over the room. There was yelling and maybe a scream. It was hard to tell.  
In the eye of it all, sat a thrashing Iris. Artemis tried to hold onto her but was soon pulled away by Superboy. The clone then went to go take M'Gann out of this miniature storm happening before them but was stopped by Dick, who had to hold onto the lab's counters to keep from being pushing away from the strong winds.  
The next thing anyone knew was the dead silence of the lightening storm ending and everyone letting out and sigh and opening their eyes.  
There he was. On the ground sprawled out. His Kidflash uniform he had been wearing still there but torn up and his exposed body showed bruises and blood, some dried, some new. He wasn't moving and neither was Iris. Everyone stared. When the scientist and lab workers came to, they suddenly became aware that Iris was flat lining and the long high pitched tone indicating so was seemingly increasing in volume.  
"Get her out of here the molecular tutonic reversal could still be at play." Someone said. They were all standing now and rolling Iris out of the room quickly and rolling in a new medical cot for Wally. Artemis was unconscious on the ground, Dick went to her side. He hadn't said anything yet. No one but the now murmuring STAR lab scientists, who were beginning their examination of the no longer missing speedster.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you think is going on in there? What was that sound do you think?" Jai asked. He sat in waiting room a ways down the hall. The loud sounds came only as muffled this gut feeling that something was wrong. Dick had left him with Barry and his grandmothers, Paula and Mary, who insisted on coming along.  
"Sit down and relax sweetie..." Mary said patting the seat he was sitting in between her and Paula. He wasn't listening. He was pacing.  
Jai looked to Barry. He was unusually quiet. The blonde speedster's face was tense, in thought, when he suddenly became aware of people were staring.  
"Uncle Barry..." Jai asked.  
"Hm?" He looked up to his great nephew.  
"Can we go in now? Jai asked urgently, trying to keep his cool.  
Barry shook his head. "Dick made me promise I would wait, until he came in got us."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on Iris stay with me now..."  
Half of the team of STAR scientist were working on Iris. She was unresponsive. Still flatlining.  
"Clear." Someone announced. And the two defibrillator pads were placed on her chest. The max given was about 1000 volts...however nothing happened.  
"Bump it up to 2000" Dr. Leslie said. One of her colleagues, Dr. Rivera, looked at her as those she were crazy.  
"I said 2000 volts now." The head doctor demanded. Rivera did as he was told. Dr Leslie Thompkins had worked with Iris since she had begun developing superspeed. Knowing of her limits, powers, and such. One could say Thompkins had a pretty good grasp that came with a personal connection.  
Analyzing the situation quickly Dr. Leslie could not bear to even imagine bringing the news Irey died...  
"4000 volts" she commanded.  
"Doctor..." Rivera began to protest.  
"I said 4000 volts"  
Doctor Adams spoke up next "Leslie...that's insane"  
"She's tough."  
4000 volts of electricity being sent and coursed through anyone for medical reasons was unheard of in is century. But Doctor Leslie Thompkins had been working with Irey since the day her mother and Dick became suspicious she was a speedster. Working with children; it was tough not to form a fondness...or a little bond. And watching her grow up and develop as a respectable young woman and hero only made it more difficult for Leslie to looking down at her unmoving form.  
But 4000 volts of electricity... Doing so rivaled real-life lightning strikes. But Leslie needed to put that and her personal relationship with Iris aside and do her job.  
“Clear” Leslie said and Dr. Rivera placed the defibrillator pads on her chest.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wally?” Dick asked standing over his friend who had since been patched up and placed into a blue fabric hosptial gown. The redhead stirred, muttering in his sleep.  
Dick was anxious to speak with him, and know he was really okay despite the doctors all insisting he was fine…  
Artemis rested in a chair off to the side. She had only been knocked out briefly, but still held an ice pack to her forehead.  
“Let him sleep.” She said in a low voice.  
“Fine...I’ll check on Irey….” Neither had been told of her status.  
Artemis looked to her restless boyfriend of sorts with sleep-deprived eyes.  
“babe...relax…”  
But Dick was already out the door leaving her in the room alone with a sleeping Wally. She sighed, closing her eyes, hoping to fall asleep again.  
    It was silent. Only the steady beeping of Wally’s heart monitor and the ticking clock, and also the occasional stirring and mumbling from the no-longer missing-in-action speedster. Artemis had been oddly calm around him. Once she got over the shock and got use to the idea of him being back and actually alive...she let the thoughts of explaining his children and her new romantic situation be put to the side until he was well enough to take the news.  
“Artemis?” His voice rang out clearly, suddenly awakening her from her attempt at much needed stuck-eye. She perked up immediately. He had turned on his side and it looked like he had most likely been staring at her for some time now.  
Her first instinct was to stand and go to him. Upon doing so, she was reminded of her minor hit to the head. She sat in the chair now closer to him, getting more eye level. Wally mustered up a smile but he definitely noticed something was different about Artemis... It wasn’t that she looked old...it was just she wasn’t 21 anymore….she was 37. Perhaps she was just really tired he might of thought.  
“How….How are you feeling?” She asked quietly, forcing back tears she knew were at bay, ready to fall. Seeing him lay there was one thing. But him speaking to her made it feel like a dream. She had defiantly had this dream years ago. Artemis was just waiting to wake up now and then it occurred to her she might not. This was undoubtedly not a dream.   
“Like I ran into a bus….I don’t remember what happened...where are we?” He tried to laugh but clutched his ribs instead.  
Artemis looked at him sympathetically. “S.T.A.R Labs in Star... We’ve had quite the night…”  
“So...how did we get here? From Antarctica? You’d think they’d bring us to the Star Labs in Gotham or Keystone aren’t they way closer…”  
Artemis suddenly realized that when he said he couldn’t remember what happened he meant he didn’t remember the entire stuck-in-another dimension thing.  
“Wally...I…” Artemis stuttered unsure of how to explain this.  
“Whats wrong? Did we not win? Is Barry okay? What about Bart?” He asked suddenly worried and overcome with fear.  
“No no...that’s not it at all….We won...everything is fine. It’s just…”  
“Just what?” Wally demanded suddenly more aware of something being totally wrong.  
“That night. The night you guys took on the Reach in Antarctica...Wally that was sixteen years ago.”  
Wally West was at a lost for words. A rare occasion but he struggled to say something for a while becoming increasingly more aware of the age on Artemis’ face and how different the S.T.A.R facility looked even when he had just been there a few months ago. It now only just occurring it had been more than a few months since he’d been to Star….and it definitely had been more than a few hours since he’d seen Artemis.  
“So you mean. Oh my god. Sixteen years? Sixteen?” He ran his hands through his hair like he just lost someone important. He did though, he lost himself ages 22-38.  
     “Artemis! Artemis she’s okay. Irey’s alright. Well she wasn’t for a little while but you know Doc Leslie…” Dick had burst in obviously to Wally regaining consciousness. Artemis faced him.  
Disregarding Wally for a second…  
“What do you mean she wasn’t okay??!” She asked skeptically.  
But Dick was now disregarding her.  
“Wally!” He quickly made his way to the foot of Wally’s bed as he now sat upright still looking still quite distraught.  
“Dick he-”  
“Dude. We have a lot of catching up to do.” Dick said excitedly.  
“Woah woah hold on whose Irey?”  
There was silence as Dick turned his attention to Artemis. They seemed to argue back and forth without speaking for a while before Wally interjected again.  
“What is going on?!” he yelled loudly. Loud enough for poor Mary West to hear and to push Barry out of the way of the door, in the next room over and burst in unannounced crying, rushing over to her son.  
“Wally!” She cried wrapping her arms around his neck. Barry stepped in taken aback by the sight. He had heard his voice too but didn’t believe it could be him until now. Leaving the door open, Paula wheeled herself in to see and Jai standing in the doorway. His hands in his pockets staring at this man who was a complete stranger and somehow his father.  
Wally was too overwhelmed by his mother at the moment to notice the kid in the doorway though. She was crying still and kissing his face.  
“Mom….come on that hurts still a little sore come on…” he said, smiling through the pain of crushed ribs. Paula was even tearing up but she stood back. Barry took his turn putting a much more gentler arm around Wally.  
“Good to see you, kid.” He smiled, still a bit in disbelief. Wally smiled at everyone still tired but definitely more awake by the sudden burst of company. That’s when he noticed the quiet teenager in the doorway, watching from a distance. Whoever this kid was, gave Wally this funny feeling in his gut. Something about him was different or strange. He felt as though he should know who he is but he couldn’t put a name to the face.  
“And uh who's this?” Wally asked the room nodding to Jai. Jai then suddenly became aware that the attention was on him and his father had noticed him. Again, a silence took over the room. Wally looked at everyone for answer. Dick looked at Artemis to say something.  
She walked over to Jai putting his arm around him and guiding him closer to Wally.  
“Well, Wally. I’d like you to meet Jai.”  
Jai looked up at his mother, unsure. Wally looked at them both.  
“And um-” Wally started.  
“Jai is your son.” Artemis cut in quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooooOOOOoooo so much drama  
> Leave some comments bla bla bla thank you for reading you know the deal.  
> I'll try to update soon some suggestions might help wink wink nudge nudge  
> much love <3  
> ~ky


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I posted one chapter twice! I do apologize! One of my lovely readers please let me know if something like that happens again! Here's the real chapter 5!

The news took overcome Wally West and he was at yet another loss for words. If the sixteen years away in an unknown place wasn’t enough news to handle a son certainly was. It was almost in slow motion that this new information went through his head.  
“I...I have a son?”  
“Wally….” Artemis began. The entire room seemed to back off to give them their space. Jai looked over at Artemis, he was already taller than her. He was looking to his mother for something….maybe a thing to say. What exactly do you say to your dad when you meet him for the first time?  
Mary looked at her Wally still smiling and teary-eyed. She couldn’t imagine what was going on in his head or what it was like. She just knew she wanted to be there for him and never let him out of her sight again. Barry on the other hand was not about to watch this obviously very shell-shocking moment. The blonde speedster looked to Paula, who nodding and her wheeled her out. Both nodding a goodbye.  
“Right after you disappeared…” Artemis continued trying to maintain eye-contact but failing miserably.  
“Well we thought you were dead” Dick interjected, Artemis nodded and went on. “I found out I was pregnant.” She wasn’t really sure of what else to say. But she did. She found out a few weeks after his “funeral”. It was emotional, to say the least, carrying twins whose father she believed to be dead.  
“Artemis...I am so sorry I wasn’t there to support you. Oh my god…” He ran a hand through his hair looking away from Jai for the first time. He couldn’t get over the way he looked. He looked like...well...his son. His and Artemis’ son. Handsome as fuck. He thought. Probably intelligent and witty and strong-willed. And those eyes….those striking grey eyes.  
Suddenly, a loud bang and yell and then the double-doors to lab room the group occupied, swung open with full force. Standing there was none other than Damian Wayne. His face blank with darting hints of irritated impatience. Wally looked at him half-terrified, half-confused and Dick just rolled his eyes.  
“Where is West.” He demanded.  
Dick snickered. “Um…?” Wally asked looking over at his friend.  
“Wally, I’d like introduce you to Damian Wayne. My brother and Bruce’s youngest.  
Wally looked the boy up and down. Jai stared at Damian. They had never really got along and Jai knew Damian liked his sister (he wasn’t exactly shipping it).  
“I said wheres West.” Damian repeated, deadpanning staring at Dick.  
“right here?” Wally asked, confused.  
“ttt. Not you. Iris.” His attention only briefly going to Wally.  
“My aunt Iris? what?” Wally was still so confused…  
“You haven’t told him?” Damian was  
That was it. “Okay what the hell is this kid talking about!?” Wally demanded. Jai stepped away to the other side of Dick, somewhat afraid of the next bomb that was about to be dropped.  
“I had twins.” Artemis said

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Iris?” Damian called out quietly. He had blown the popsicle stand that was Wally West’s room and went on to search for Irey by himself. He stood over her bed. The doctors and scientists had left her alone to rest in peace.  
The young speedster’s eyes fluttered open and she squinted as she was greeted by the bright lights. For a moment she thought she was dead.  
“Damian?” She asked, recognizing the voice but was still pretty out of it. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone else, but Iris kinda hoped it was him.  
“How did it go? Are you alright?” He asked maintaining a softer voice.  
“I don’t know? Is my dad alive and in our dimension?” she asked curiously.  
“Yes actually.”  
“Then good. I’m good.” She smiled a little to herself, rolling over onto her stomach and groaning into the pillow.  
“Um?”  
She turned her head on its side so she could speak to him properly. “Sorry. Interdimensional rescue missions are apparently exhausting.”  
Damian chuckled. Even in her state, she maintained her quirky attitude. Rolling over to her side completely, twisting up all the cords and monitoring devices, she didn’t seem to care. Irey looked at him curiously with her green eyes.  
“Why are you here? Where’s everyone else?”  
“What? Is my presence not satisfying?”  
“No. I just didn’t think you’d-”  
“Want to come? pff. Of course I did.” Damian said looking away. This took Irey by surprise. “And everyone is sitting with your father. Fools. You did all the work.”  
“hey they haven’t seen him in like sixteen years. You can’t blame them, they can see me whenever.” She rolled back onto her back looking at the ceiling.  
“Still. You could have died.”  
“He could have too.”  
Damian didn’t want to debate any longer. “Did it hurt?”  
“....like hell. It was like I got struck by lightning forty times and then electrocuted and then got my chest rolled over by a truck.” She laughed at herself.  
“Do you want me to get your mother?”  
“You don’t have to. She probably wants to talk to him you know. He kinda missed a lot.”  
Dick entered the room slowly peeking his head in, to make sure he wasn’t interrupting something…  
“Hey Irey...looking better already, kid.” She looked down-right uncomfortable.  
“Ha. You’re a terrible liar.”  
“Your mom will be in soon. She’s got some….stuff.” He said, looking from her, to Damian.  
“You did not give a very good first-impression to Wally.” He said trying to scold his brother. Dick leaned on a counter looking at Damian, who was leaning against Irey’s bed looking at him, arms crossed across his chest. The whole thing looked like a face off, except Dick ended up just smirking, amused with his brother.  
“Does he ever give ‘good’ impressions? To anyone?” Irey asked giggling.  
“Well….”  
“She has a point, Grayson.” Damian said accepting the fact his aesthetic was a total jack-ass, rich kid, who will probably try to murder you at least once before he becomes comfortable with any person he meets.  
Dick rolled his eyes. “Just make out already, God.” he mused.  
Irey turned bright red in the cheeks and rolled over so she was on her side facing away from the two.  
Dick cackled his signature cackle and Damian also appeared flustered and red. He so called it.  
“Make yourself useful and bring me a sandwich.” Irey called covering her face with the pillow.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Can I meet her?” Wally asked eagerly.  
“She’s resting now.” Dr. Leslie said. She was checking his vitals, right on schedule.  
“But-But That demonic-Wayne child is in there isn’t he?” Wally asked lifting his arm so his blood pressure could be taken. “Damian? Oh jeez.” The doctor rolled her eyes. “Well just as I thought you’ll still have your speedster metabolism. You should eat soon.”  
Artemis walked up closer. She hadn’t left the room since he woke up. She looked exhausted.  
“As for Irey, you’ll see her soon don’t worry. Dick says she’s fine.”  
“Are you sure you don’t wanna see her, babe?” Artemis flinched at the use of the old pet name. She hadn’t heard him say it in so long. It had only played her in mind since then. Specifically she remembered it right after he died. It was like he was a broken record playing in her head, things he always said, like “babe” and nonsense about food. It was terrifying, it was like she couldn’t get him out of her head and she was suppose to be moving on and learning to live without him. And it seemed like he never left. At least for a while. The twins birth was a good distraction and of course Dick. But low and behold here HE was, sitting, living and breathing right in front of her.  
“Uh. Yeah. You’re right I should probably go check on her.” Artemis said snapping out of thought. He was right. She should take a break...from him.  
As she left Wally’s room, she slowly walked down the hall. Doing this purposefully so she could process this whole ordeal. Artemis looked at her feet as she walked. A mistake. This method of focus led her to step right into Dick’s strong chest, despite him calling out her name several times.  
“Oh. Crap. Sorry.” She said quickly, looking him briefly in the eyes.  
“Artemis. Are you okay?” He looked down at her, putting hands on her shoulders as she exhaled.  
“It’s just a lot to take in.” She mumbled. Artemis rarely spoke of her feelings. But for some reason (Stupid reason, as Artemis thought) Dick brought out her vulnerable side. He somehow got this dark, keeping-it-all-in-and-to-herself woman to open up to him.  
“I know. But it’s happening and we gotta deal with it…” He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her and she slowly snaked her arms around him as she exhaled a great puff of air into him, taking in his familiar and oddly comforting scent.  
“You should go see Irey. She’s still cracking jokes, even though she claims interdimensional rescue missions are the, and I quote the hell-y-iest hell she’s ever felt and that we might as well allowed nine commercial sized, sixteen-wheel trucks carrying furniture to run over her.” He couldn’t hold back a chuckle repeating that to her.  
Artemis smirked and let out a short laugh. “She’s ridiculous sometimes…”  
“Hey. None of us know what interdimensional rescue missions are like. So she could be very right.” She laughed again with him.  
“Yeah...you’re right. I should go. She’s alone?”  
“Nah. Damian’s in there.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. She raised an eyebrow.  
“No..Are you serious? I didn’t...I thought you were joking about them… you know…”  
Dick laughed. “How come no one ever takes me seriously? I told you. I knew it. From the moment he saw her….”  
“Dick. You just bluntly said they were going to get married and walked away.”

~Flashback~

“What is that.”  
“Damian this is Irey.” Dick gave the 10 year old a little shove towards the other child that stood before him. She was smaller then him by a few inches and she had these sparkling green eyes with red hair in the most perkiest pigtails he’d ever seen. And he didn’t know pigtails could be perky.  
“Hi! I’m Iris Paula West but don’t actually call me that you can call me Irey do people call you Damian I’d call you Dami if I had to give you a nickname my nickname is Impulse but that’s not like a real nick name nick name its my superhero name that’s right me I’m a superhero I’m not a super hero yet though because I’m too young so that sad but yeah SUPER because I have special powers like the Flash have you heard of the Flash he’s pretty famous and my uncle but not like uncle uncle more like great uncle because he’s so great and nice and fast and he says I’m pretty fast so I take that as a very nice compliment ooOOOoo maybe you’ve heard of my mommy she’s not fast like me but she’s fast with her bow and her crossbow-”  
“Irey! Remember what we talked about? Yes, it is very exciting to meet new people but when you talk reaaaallly fast, people cannot understand you.” Artemis said slowly as she stood behind her giving her a tap on the shoulder.  
“OH I am sorry.” she said as slowly as she could muster, yet she still smiled brightly looking at this new boy presented before her.  
He looked at her blankly but now that he could understand the words flying out of her mouth, he looked slightly less confused.  
“Damian what do we say?” Dick prompted.  
“F-....Nice to meet you.” He deadpanned. Dick beamed like a proud papa and walked over to stand beside Artemis and they watched them exchange few more words, Irey obviously a bit more ecstatic about this new friend.  
“They’re totally gonna get married some day.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One Week Later….

Artemis, Jai, Irey were now joined by Wally outside their home in the outskirts of Gotham. It was a smaller 2 story house, of course taken care of by the Wayne’s. 3 bedroom, 2 bath, a large living room, a kitchen, a dining room and office space for Artemis...It was their space. That now seemed to have a stranger in it. Wally was quiet the whole way home. Leaving the rest not wanting to say anything either. When they arrived Wally looked up at this place. It was so...ordinary. It was apart of their everyday lives that he had just missed. He was still bandaged up quite a bit and so was Irey. But thankfully he was given the all clear to go “home”. He wasn’t even sure he knew what that was.  
The last home he had was an apartment shared with Artemis in California. Now it was a suburban house in New England by a city with two kids AND Artemis.  
They hadn’t exactly gotten around to talking about their relationship. They had just agreed he could come home with them and to talk about it later for the sake of getting to know his kids. To him it seemed more like avoiding it for the sake of getting to know his kids.  
So far Jai was rather distant. And Irey was hesitant but obviously very interested in getting to know him, and to talk to him. She just didn’t know how to approach him.  
Artemis unlocked the house and led Wally in, followed by the twins. Jai went straight to the stairs putting his head down and trying to go up them as quickly and quietly as he could. Artemis cleared her throat, stopping him.  
“I had your schoolwork that you missed dropped off.” She held out a small stack of papers and notes out to him. Jai narrowed his eyes. “What about Iris? Does she just get out of it?”  
“UM. Did you just poop dad out of your chest?” Irey interjected.  
Artemis closed her eyes and sighed at her daughter’s comments. Wally perked up when someone referred to him as “dad” and he felt the need to sit down.  
Irey was then handed a pile of school work and she groaned, Jai smirked and went upstairs, satisfied, Irey followed suit and little less happy than he.  
“So…” Wally said as him and Artemis remained at the bottom of the stairs.  
“So…” Artemis echoed.  
“What do we do now?” Wally looked at her lovingly like he was about to kiss her or something crazy.  
“Dick and I are together.” Artemis blurted out.  
“Wait what?!”  
“Whats up Bats?”  
“Huh?”  
“It’s Batman on my comm link it sounds important” She said quickly to him to avoid whatever was to come next. “Sorry what?” She asked and then listened closely. Wally couldn’t hear and as usual, Artemis’ face was hard to read as to what was going on.  
“Okay...okay...Are you-Shit. Seriously? Okay okay I got it.” She tapped the hidden device in her ear. She looked urgent, like something needed to be done.  
“What is it?” Wally asked curiously. Artemis paced back and forth for a while, obviously thinking.  
“Iris! Jai! Come down here” She called.  
“Artemis. What happened?”  
She leaned over to whisper quietly. “Apparently there were a few consequences to freeing you from the Speed Force.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comment and message critiques and suggestions, I'd love to hear from you  
> <3  
> ~ky


	6. The start of Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Wally West is back and safe and sound....what comes next? Well it doesn't seem like anyone is really safe...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ: Hey loyal readers! Thank you for sticking with me. This chapter takes a bit of a turn in the story and everything is definitely changing. I will be focusing on Irey more next chapter but the next plot line is very different then the one before...I also introduce some of the other team members (briefly) I'm using characters mainly from the original teen titans comic. I'm also interested in having a beta reader. I'm not sure how that works on Ao3 but I'm also open to emailing anyone back and forth to review/edit my chapter and helping me get chapters out faster. message me if you have info or are interested! <3

   Arriving at Mount Justice was chaos. Artemis shouldn’t have been so surprised when the Dark Knight ordered that her, Wally, and the twins leave the house immediately. As well as telling them to leave no traces that they were there and ensure their secret spaces in which they concealed hero stuff, costumes and or weapons, were completed concealed.  
  Members of the JLA, team and assorted allies were frantically moving around the cave. Neither her or Wally could recall a time this many people were here. Irey looked over to her parents. “Mom, what’s going on?” she asked skeptically.  
Before Artemis could even tell her she didn’t know, Green Arrow approached them quickly. “Ollie what’s happening?”  
The archer looked at them blankly as if it was impossible they couldn’t know.  
“He didn’t tell you? The ass…” He muttered. “Hey Tornado turn on the news!” Oliver called over. The Android used the holographic controls and the large news screen appeared overhead.  
  “Good Evening this is Vicki Vale reporting live for Washington DC. Where we have breaking news of the Justice League conducting secret experiments on civilians, animals and even their own. It was just two weeks ago when strange occurrences began happening, surrounding the Gotham City’s Star Labs facility. Locals noted loud sounds and screaming. This only escalated when the Star Labs facility in Star City, the original laboratory, was in similar circumstances, and a lightning storm erupted from the grounds. Clearly not of natural causes. The storm led to power-outages nationwide, sparking a full-scale investigation which was kept confidential by authorities until today. The CIA released a statement saying they found the Justice League of America has been using the Star Labs, a government funded program to do illegal experimentation. Also failing to report what they were doing and lying on any of the very scarce reports ever submitted. Upon the further investigations the CIA has confirmed the JLA experimented and illegally operated on children.”  
    The room had all stopped and everyone stared at this report. It seemed like the biggest pile of bullshit they had ever heard.  
“What the hell is this?” Artemis yelled at Oliver, gaining the attention of everyone else.  
Vicki Vale’s voice seemed to drown out as Artemis went on. “How on Earth are we just hearing about this now? Why didn’t anyone tell us?”  
Oliver put his hands up defensively. “Hey hey. We were just as surprised as you are. And half of this is total and complete-”  
“Bullshit!” Artemis interjected.  
“Yes, yes. We know…”  
“It’s complete and utter bulltshit. They think we’re doing terrible things, do they even know what kind of monsters we-”  
“Artemis…” Wally started.  
“We do what we do for the greater good of this country and the entire world sometimes even the mother fu-”  
  “MOM.” Irey and Jai yelled simultaneously. They glared at each other immediately following. Artemis stopped yelling and rambling and breathed for the first time in a while. Nightwing walked up, if the whole cave wasn’t chaotic enough. Wally immediately felt awkward even when he had no context from what Artemis had previously said about her and Dick.  
  “Hey. I heard yelling are you okay?” Dick was talking fast indicating his clear frustration.  
“Fine…” Artemis grumbled. Nightwing sighed and turned to the twins. “Why don’t you guys go join The Team in the conference room.” He said calmly. They knew better than to argue with him and the pair reluctantly walked off through the sea of superheroes to join the rest of The Team.  
  A tense silence took over breifly, and it crossed Dick’s mind that she might have told Wally about their relationship.The gut-wrenching feeling past when he soon remembered there was crisis they had to deal with.  
“Okay listen, Batman is meeting with some General or some CIA goons. Apparently they want to set up some kind of deal.”  
  “Where do you want me?” Artemis asked crossing her arms. Wally suddenly felt left out. He was still technically on a medical, but now there was this tension…  
“I want you to suit up and come with me and Bats for the negotiation. We’ll debrief our strategy on the way.”  
“When?”  
“Now.” Dick said. They started walking off into this maze of people, leaving Wally.  
   “Wait. Hey!” Wally caught up to them, still a little sore. Artemis had almost forgot about him. They both turned around and faced him. She immediately felt bad. Not bad, terrible. In her defense, she wasn’t yet use to his return, or even having him back or around. Artemis didn’t see this as an excuse.  
“Wally. Jesus. I’m sorry. Uh-”  
“You’ve still got a ways to recover man.” Dick said looking at him sympathetically. “Artemis and I got it, you rest. We shouldn’t be long.”  
Wally narrowed his eyes. His cheeks welled up red and he took a step towards them. “Yeah. ‘Got it’. That’s for sure.” He spat.  
“Wha-”  
   Wally immediately cut Artemis off to continue. “No. Shut up.”  
“Hey! Don’t talk to her like that.” Dick said stepping in front of Artemis. “Dick. I can-” Artemis tried to stop him but Wally wasn’t done.  
“How long did it take huh? How long did I have to be dead for you to swoop in and be the big hero and steal her?!” He started yelling louder.  
“Stop yelling and listen to me for a second. Relax.” Dick said trying himself to stay calm.  
   “No. No. You’ve both clearly had enough time to ‘talk’, now it’s my turn. What kind of best friend takes advantage-”  
“You have a lot of balls suggesting that he would ever do something like that Wally West.” Artemis stepped in now, pointing a finger in his face. He still stood much taller than she. But it did not stop her from being firm and intimidating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iris’ face was scrunched up. Her ear pressed against a glass which was pressed against the door. Much to her and her brother’s dismay, apparently, waiting with the team in the conference room wasn’t just getting them out of the way of the adults. It was locking them in the conference room with the team to keep them out trouble.  
“West. There is no probable way. A glass can allow you to-” Damian began  
“Shhhhh Shut up.” Iris waved her hand at them. They all looked at her skeptically at this almost childish way of trying to figure out what was going on.  
“You know I have super hearing right?” Chris Kent now spoke up. Irey sighed “And I can vibrate through walls but Nightwing took it upon himself to meta-proof this room.”  
“You shouldn’t be vibrating through anything. Didn’t you listen to Dr. Leslie?” Jai said. “Hush Turtle.” Irey said and Jai rolled his eyes. “Our parents are fighting.”  
“What on earth could they possibly have to fight about?” Jai asked.  
“What do you think?” Irey brushed past him putting the glass on the conference room table. She faced the rest of her team, Damian, Colin, Chris, Milagro, along with Rachel, aka Raven and Miguel, aka Bunker, the two newer members of the Team looked at her. They were all equally annoyed with being locked away, but Irey was the only one trying to do something about it.  
“We have to get out here. I’m going to go crazy.” Irey said looking at Damian.  
“And do what? We don’t even know what’s going on.” Colin said sitting in one of the chairs.  
“Well that’s problem number one. Chris, smash the door!” Irey demanded.  
“You just said it was meta-proof. What makes you think it isn’t Kryptonian proof?”  
“I don’t know. Wishful thinking.”  
“Stop pacing….” Jai complained.  
“You think I can vibrate through this?” She tapped the wall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are those two even my kids or are they his?” Wally asked angrily. His fists curling and turning white.  
“Are you kidding me?! Are you seriously inferring the twins aren’t yours?” Artemis and Wally had been going at it for a while now. Dick anxiously checked the time, they needed to go. Batman approached the once close friends.  
“Wheels up in 5.” He said in his deep, brooding voice. Nightwing nodded as his mentor stalked off towards the hanger.  
“Okay that’s it.” Dick grabbed Artemis by the shoulders catching her mid-sentence, of what was likely a brash insult. “We need to leave. You two need to relax and talk...civilly. Later.”  
“He’s right.” Artemis said looking away.  
“Fine.” Wally turned away as Nightwing and Artemis, soon to be dressed as Tigress, headed off.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How long have we been in here? Do you think they forgot about us?” Irey now sat on the floor, in front of the door of the conference room that confided her and her team.  
“Iris. It’s been like a half hour.” Jai was about done with his sister’s impatience.  
“I know it sucks but they’ll let us out eventually.” Colin chimed in, the meta-teen laid on his back on the long table that took up the center of the room. The rest of the team sprawled out around the room, some in chairs some still standing or leaning against various walls. Suddenly the sound of the door being unlocked filled the brief silence that overtook the young heroes. They all perked up and got ready to burst out to ensure they weren’t just being checked on and being locked in again.   
Wally opened the door, much to everyone’s surprised.  
“Did….did they lock you guys in here?” He asked surprised. “Praise!” Milagro said running out. Everyone else did the same, leaving Jai and Irey with their father.  
“Yeah...I guess they just wanted us out of trouble.” Jai shrugged. Wally looked almost disturbed. In his mind it hadn’t been too long he was on the team. If they got locked up, the whole team would unleash hell. “Jesus. If they think that this is the answer to keeping you guys out of trouble…”  
“Yeah yeah sorry to interrupt but I’m starving what’s going on?” Iris asked brushing past Wally and Jai. She headed to her favorite place: the kitchen. The other two followed and Wally started filling them in.  
The cave had settled some what. There was still a decent amount of Leaguers and allies seemingly pacing around. But they were probably doing something important, it just seemed aimless with the lack of information really anyone had.  
“Well, it looks like Star Labs is under some heat for their projects…” Wally began. Him and Jai sat at the small breakfast bar as Irey quickly moved about the kitchen making some kind of snack.  
“Like trouble? Legally? They haven’t done anything wrong…” Jai asked curiously.  
“Of course. But we obviously do some things we keep private to...you know, conceal identities. And they usually can get by, but they made a little mistake and have the government’s attention and it looks like they don’t like what they see…” Wally said reaching for something to eat himself.  
Irey had finished concocting one of the most colorful sandwiches either Jai or Wally had ever seen. She began devouring it.  
“Is it because of me? What happened you know?” She asked, it just being barely able to understand her through all the food in her mouth...she somehow managed to keep her charm...  
“Well it’s definately not directly your fault. It’s more like it just-so-happened it was the procedure with us that something didn’t go right and got everyone’s attention.” Wally said. Looking at her, something was starting to click. Wally was slowly developing the “she’s-my-beautiful-young-daughter-how-  
could-I-ever-say-no-to-her feeling. Thinking of this, only made Wally regret some of the things he said to Artemis. Of course they were his kids. Look at them, red hair and thoughtful. The pair just felt like family to him, and he’s hardly known them a week.  
“So where’d mom go?” Jai asked, changing the subject. Wally cringed. First off, it was weird hearing them refer to Artemis as ‘mom’ and secondly, he had to think of Artemis and he was already feeling guilty about the fight.  
“Her and uh, Nightwing went on a mission-type-deal…”  
“What do you mean ‘type-deal’?”  
“I’m not sure myself actually…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So to be clear, you want all Justice League members and their proteges to turn themselves in as what? Prisoners?” Nightwing asked. He took on a slightly deeper more intimidating voice as Nightwing, Artemis found it kinda sexy, but she couldn’t exactly think about it at the moment.  
Nightwing, Tigress, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman sat at a large table. Across from them, sat some kind of chiefs or agents of the CIA and government. All dressed in either uniform or neat suit. Behind them stood security men all in dark shades despite being indoors with the blinds shut. The five heroes had remained respectful during the presentation. They had gone over the happenings and facts. Some seemed a little stretched, others far from the truth or down-right made up...But Batman suggested a strategy of listening intently to gain their trust and respect. They then proposed a long plan with graphs and charts that looked made-up to Dick...but in short the plan suggested all sworn members of the Justice League and their proteges be registered with the government so they could be monitored. It basically sounded like the biggest invasion of privacy. It also didn’t matter if they were superpowered or not. It they were trained to fight crime they wanted them “registered” as they kept saying.  
“Not prisoners. Just to keep record of those who are doing what you do.” The main man who identified himself as Joseph Reid said.  
“And what is it that you think we do?” Nightwing replied skeptically.  
“Fight crime, save the day, whatever you call it.” Joseph’s partner, Will Bennett spoke next.  
“We call them secret identities for a reason. To protect ourselves and non-involved loved ones from the bad-guys. You suggested Leaguer’s identities become public information...what makes you think we would ever submit to that?” Nightwing was growing more defensive now, it worried Batman, he wasn’t about to fight these high level government goons...they’d just publish another article about how they attacked their peace treaty or something.  
“Oh, we are not asking you to submit. We are telling you what will be happening. You all will be taken to custody and registered.” Reid firmly spoke. Now Batman was perfectly okay with someone completely exploding at them.  
“Mr.Reid, I assure you, no one has been hurt or unwillingly operated on at the Star labs. What happened was a minor side effect no one anticipated.” Superman offered.  
“Minor? If it was so minor why is making national headlines huh?” Bennett asked.  
“You also cannot and have failed to prove any of your claims.” One of the other men said, seeming the most level-headed of their group.  
“We have explained, doing so would expose identities that we wish to keep protected. As the Justice League we strive for just that. Protection. Of everyone. You cannot expect us to only protect everyone else. We have our own to look out for as well.” The Amazonian Princess stated confidently. “Agreed. Everyone, human and nonhuman has put their lives on the line.This also brings in the matter of minors. Proteges begin training at 13, some have started even younger. You really want to expose and potentially endanger children?” Batman imposed.  
The men on the far side of the table looked to each other as those they were speaking in silent code, exchanging glances and eventually nodding.  
“You have 24 hours to submit or become wanted fugitives.” Reid declared coldly. He gathered his possessions and the others grabbed their briefcases and left the room all at the once. It all seemed so fast. They couldn’t even get a final word in or debate any longer. The heroes all stood and looked at one another in the now otherwise empty office.  
“We’re not doing this...we can’t...Right?” Tigress asked, addressing the others.  
“We’ll discuss this as a League.” Batman said standing. Superman and Wonder Woman also stood nodding in agreement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“...is it weird to be called dad? Do you want us to call you dad? Or would it be even weirder if we called you just Wally….” Irey babbled, she wasn’t trying to make the man feel uncomfortable, but this was her first time alone with the man without Artemis and she had a lot of questions.  
“Uh...I don’t know...I guess? It’s just strange to hear but you don’t have to no-”  
‘Recognize Batman 02, Nightwing B01, Tigress B07’ The computer announced loudly, interrupting Wally’s awkward response to Irey.  
“I’ll send out an alert to everyone. Meeting at the Watchtower?” Nightwing asked.  
“Correct. As soon as possible. We’ll begin in 10 minutes. Superman and Wonder Woman already went up.” Batman replied. The Dark Knight stalked off, to who knows where, leaving Tigress, Nightwing, Wally and the twins alone in the mission room of the new Cave.  
“So...what’s going on?” Wally asked calmly.  
“Some pretty messed up BS that’s for sure.” Tigress crossed her arms, as Nightwing went over to the League computer and pulled up the screens to send out a message to everyone.  
“Meaning…?” Wally asked still waiting for the real answer.  
“Some idiot bureaucratic dirtbags wanna expose us, for “the better of the people” and keep track of all of us so they can control everything we do and work on. I mean what’s next? Using us for their own advantage?” She ranted, gaining the attention of her kids.  
“Wait what?” Jai asked.  
“Uh...aren’t you guys suppose to be with the team?” Artemis asked.  
“What? You mean locked in a conference room?” Jai crossed his arms now.  
“With no food!?” Irey called over. Jai ignored her and went on. “You don’t think we could be helpful? I-I mean you probably just think we get in the way but face it, you’ll need us.” Jai raised his voice slightly which wasn’t normal for him.  
Despite Jai not being a crime-fighter, he played a big role on the team. His title was Ops-Manager. He would stay at the the base they were operated from, and monitor what was going on, making sure systems and comms were up. Hacking cameras to get that bird’s eye view and help the teams along. Dick and Barbara had trained him themselves. It began with him watching and that sprung into something more and the next thing he was doing alongside Batgirl and after that, Batgirl was letting him do it alone. And Jai was good. He could communicate and stay calm. He was organized and was able to stay on top of everything even when they had multiple squads out. Jai was just as much a member of the team as his sister or anyone.  
“You’re all-” Artemis began but Jai had more to say.  
“Kids? Children? To young? You let us risk our lives daily and assiting you deal with some government ass holes, is to much?”  
“Hold on a minute, I don’t think you understand what’s going on here…” Artemis responded, raising her own voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And why exactly are volunteering to do this? Joseph Reid asked narrowing his eyes at the moving figure before him. Whoever, whatever this man or thing was...drove an interesting bargain…  
“Easy. I get to do exactly what I’ve been wanting to do. Expose my greatest enemies and their beloved allies for what they really are. And in return all you have to do is let me go free once I’m finished.” He spoke lowly and his voice didn’t sound quite human….or maybe it was disguised somehow.  
“And that’s all you want?” Reid asked skeptically.  
“I’ll sign any legal document you want and pledge so.” This inexplicable figure spoke back.  
“And you’ll take care of them...all of them?”  
“Yes. I’ll apprehend the Justice League and their sidekicks, and deliver them all to your custody.”  
“You understand we need them all alive, correct?”  
“Yes. But you must also understand they won’t be unharmed? ” He paused. “some a little more so than others but...I have scores to settle with a few speedsters. But nevertheless they’ll put up a fight.”  
“Then we have a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> du du dunnnn  
> tune in next time and find out what the heck is going on.....
> 
> please review!  
> <3 kylie


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not to pleased with the length of the chapter. it is notably shorter then the rest. BUT a lot happens. I tried to leave it on another cliffhanger but this chapter was a bit more of a filler....enjoy!!

   The Watchtower was quite the sight. Giant, and orbiting in space, surrounded by stars, the Earth a good hundred thousand miles away. But this night the vibe about the Tower was off. It usually was kept fairly serious place but welcoming to it’s members. Everyone and everything was so tense tonight, the air could practically embit it. Since Wally’s disappearance the Tower of course had gone through multiple changes and advancements. The basic computer and technology upgrades of course. But it also seemed to get bigger. Well it was bigger, slowly the headquarters expanded with new renovations. More space for its guests to explore had been added. While some of the newer rooms were yet to visited.

   To Iris some of these new rooms had no purpose other than to be explored. While some were conference rooms or had specific designations like medical or research areas equipped for such, Irey’s favorite room was quite simple. An open room with a large window that overlooked outer space. She could glance out that window forever, it seemed like. Dwelling on nothing but the nothingness of the unknown. When she could, the young hero would sit there and do school work. Or sometimes she would rest up after a long mission and prepare to deliver the report of a given mission with her team.

   This evening, the young speedster gazed out on the horizons of space in her Impulse uniform. The cowl pulled back off her head, resting on her shoulders. Her goggles sitting up on her head letting free the puff of ginger hair that frizzed out to the sides, and let her naturally bright grey eyes glow, in their non-concealed glory. Her features were tensed in thought. Her mind visibly lost in thought and her pigtails noticeably lower on her head then usual.

   “The meeting will begin soon.” Came Damian’s familiar voice, as he opened the large door slowly to peek his head in. "Are we even allowed in?” She asked without turning around.

   Damian began to walk in toward her. The lights were off, but dim lights from outside the window, some being from other rooms of the Watchtower, illuminated just enough for the two teens to see each other. “I made sure of it.” He walked in, dressed neatly in his Robin uniform. She turned to glance at him now. “Good…” She met his eye briefly and then looked down and away and everywhere else in the room, but at him. He was her weakness. For some strange reason that Irey could never figure out, no matter how hard she thought about it, she could not compute why Damian Wayne seemed so...significant? Why did he have so much hold over her? It was just plainly frustrating. “If this thing is all my fault, I want to help.” She blurted out.

   “This is not your fault, West.” The Robin said, agitated at the fact that she would even think such preposterous things. “Then whose can it be? I brought this whole….scandal on the League and I should be the one to fix it.” She retaliated and began to pace around a little quicker than most people. Damian sighed. After a moment of Damian looking at her with his hard blue eyes he spoke again.

    “The meeting will begin soon.” he repeated, frustrated so much, he practically had to force the words out of his mouth. And yet he didn’t want to fight with her. He would hate so see her get even more upset. She was his weakness. It wasn’t like him to care but, Damian only seemed to care what Iris thought of him. Irey could see his exasperation and began to emphasize.

   “Sorry Dami. I just-” She was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Bart Allen, dressed as the Flash, formerly Kidflash and formerly the original Impulse, popped his head in. “Sorry to interupt, but it’s time kid.” The Leaguer said to his protege and nodding to Damian respectfully, as he left. “Impulse.” Robin said as professionally as he could. The speedster nodded in response. “Robin.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

//12 Hours Later//

    “IMPULSE, NO!” Robin practically was screaming as Impulse sped out of the Mount Justice, past him, and past the small hideout the remaining members of the League sat waiting. She was going faster than she’d ever gone before.

  The sound of rapid gunfire and explosions mixed with yelling, toppled and the sounds of a swarm of military helicopters, which were only getting lower and closer, consumed the entire parameters of Mount Justice. Irey zipped towards her family and she could just see them being pulled into the farthest military vehicle all three on there backs unconscious. The speedster forcefully bolted through the minefield, zig-zagging and dashing through and around the valley of attackers. It was a lost battle. They were outnumbered.

  It was all down to Impulse, Robin, Nightwing, Flash, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. They had began their strategic retreat but Irey had other plans. The sound of electricity was heard and sparks and guns became so overwhelming Damian had to cover his head with his cape for a moment. When he looked up he could see something he didn’t believe to be possible.

   A tall yellow figure vibrating faster that he had ever seen a speedster move. This thing was darting around Irey in what looked like a speedster-showdown of sorts. “No way….” Damian heard the Flash say.

  “Zoom??!?” the scarlet speedster asked louder. Damian turned his attention back to this Zoom character, just in time to see it launch itself towards Irey. He watched bewildered as the two seemed to be evenly matched. Impulse defensively dodged every attack thrown at her, in a standoff of speed. But then something changed. It appeared as though this ‘Zoom’ was accelerating,if that was even possible. Like he was now commanding the electricity and controlling an unseen force. In a millisecond the Zoom launched itself at Irey one last time and _hit_ her. Smack. Straight down, full-force. Irey fell and was laying flat on her stomach, her arms and limbs sprawled out. “IMPULSE?!” The Flash called out to his long-time sidekick.

  Before Bart could do anything Zoom began running around Irey who only showed a small sign of movement since falling. Zoom circled her. Faster, and faster and faster. He created a twister. A huge twister of lightning all by itself. Damian could barely hear as Bart said something fast about the the cyclone eliminating all oxygen inside of the epicenter and henceforth, that meant in short, Zoom was basically strangling Irey.

And suddenly the Flash was off too. He bolted forward past his team into the battlefield that had been created outside the base. The Flash ran straight towards the small twister and began attempting to stop it. He ran in the opposite direction, to no avail, the Flash sped himself into Zoom. Forcing his mass into the mysterious entity, hoping to get him away from his sidekick. All Damian could see was the flashing and mess of colors; a battle of red and yellow.

He felt helpless. He wanted to run in and do something but the little voice in his head told him that it would only make this whole ordeal worse. The next thing anyone knew Zoom was pulled away from Impulse with the Flash atop of him. There was more spinning and Bart was launched back away towards the rest of the group. Looking back over at Zoom he made his way back to Irey and Damian could tell by the way he approached her, the sick bastard was smirking, pleased with his victory. He bent down and examined the knocked-out hero before picking her up, and carelessly flinging her over his shoulder and making his way to the one of the military trucks.

  “GET YOUR GODDAMN DIRTY HANDS OFF HER YOU SAVAGE” Robin shouted only to be grabbed by Nightwing to prevent him from going after Zoom. Superman collected the Flash. “Retreat.” The Man-of-Steel said a bit more forcefully than the first time he said it, 10 minutes ago.

“LET ME GO. COWARDS” Robin yelled again. The remaining few stealthily made their way to the secret entrance to the secret tunnels in and around the Cave“ She’ll be okay Robin.” Dick said his eyes narrowed, “I hope so…” he muttered under his breathe as they all disappeared together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i do apologize for the delay! I moved into college for the first time so it was a little crazy. I'll try my very best to keep up
> 
> I'm still looking for that beta reader! if you're interested please don't be shy and contact me or if you know someone send them my way, i don't bite ;p


	8. Chapter 8

  “Direct confrontation would not be a suitable way of dealing with this situation.” Superman led the meeting. Before him, sat the entire league and their proteges. Superboy sat near the empty chair that belonged to Superman along with Colin Kent. Down the lineup was a larger than average crew. Usually, the team was not allowed at Watchtower meetings. But through some careful, yet persistent convincing, they were allowed to sit in. Even retired heroes like Barry Allen, Jai Garrick, who had for some time now passed on their name of the Flash. Along with Raquel Ervin, who had only just recently retired but kept in good contact with the League. This was because Batman believed this affected all metas and ex-heroes. “Then how do you propose we deal with the situation?” Wonder Woman countered. “Well, I propose we prepare several stages of defense. The first being a peaceful, but publicised conference where myself, Batman and Wonder Woman or anyone else voted, talk it out.” 

   “Why go public with this?” Captain Marvel inquired raising his hand slightly looking puzzled. “To get anyone we can on our side. If the public sees this unfair treatment, the government will be more easily pressured and persuaded.” Superman answered. The hero addressed the whole group with each answer. The Man of Steel spoke well; he was usually the one to make public announcements and such. “If that does not work out well, we move into a more demanding phase and take a slightly more defensive stance.” 

   “Don’t you think they’ll just turn that back to us only being interested in our own agenda or something?” The Flash questioned. Irey nodded, agreeing with her mentor’s point. It was hard for her to stay so quiet, but Bart insisted she try her best. Instead whenever she was frustrated she would glance at Damian, who sat directly across from her at the large conference table. Beside him sat Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin and Batgirl. She would scrunch up her face in frustrated motions as she was trying to say something or ask questions. She did so in such an overdramatic manor, Damian quite often had to hide his snicker. Robin did not snicker or smile. But Irey frequently challenged that. “It is risky. But we must stand our ground.” Superman said back to the Flash who nodded considering this. “The final phase is complete resistance. I propose our final phase of defense from this ludicrous stipulation from the government, be isolated. No one makes any contact with any official and all missions be completely covert.”

   “You want us to go into hiding?” Tigress asked. Jai had actually said it first, but only in a low voice to his mother. “Not hiding. Think of it as a peaceful refusal to cooperate.” Superman said to Jai. He had heard him. After giving his answers Superman scanned the crowd before him, they all appeared to be thinking. “Anyone else have a proposal?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

   “what the fuck. How did we end up in here?” Iris asked. She looked around to see all her teammates, the proteges, the teens, the sidekicks…. They had been left behind at Mount Justice on monitor duty. They were instructed to be the “back-up”, extra muscle should something go wrong. “what the fuck they promised!” Jai snarled, cursing loudly. The teen ran a hand through his thick auburn hair in frustration. Taken aback by her brother’s aggravation, Irey stared at him for a moment along with everyone else.

   “what? I can’t be mad too?” Jai looked at the group a little pissed. “it’s just...you’re usually the calm one….” Colin said, looking to one of his best friends. It was true. Jai usually was the one to keep a level head. Being an ops manager came with that; keeping calm and keeping everyone else relaxed and focused. Disregarding this, Jai faced his team. “Okay this time we’re not just gonna sit here and literally watch from a safe distance. We are going to get the hell out of here and go to that goddamn meeting.” Jai firmly declared. “Alright hermano. How do propose we do that?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   “Where are the kids?” Wally asked as the meeting was about to begin. He stood in civilian clothing next to Artemis also in civies. Both were placed along with a few other heroes in disguise while Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman led the public and publicly broadcasted debate of sorts. They were going up against the CIA meatheads they had earlier encountered, including Joseph Reid, and Will Bennett, who had also brought some “concerned” UN members and some old guy from the army. 

   “Uh, Dick has them occupied.” Artemis absent-mindedly responded as she was quietly scanning the crowd of civilians who had showed up to watch; she was in total mission mode, looking for anyone or anything suspicious. “Do you mean that he locked them up somewhere again?” Wally fussed. “How did-” Artemis started, she shook her head, it didn’t matter how he found out. “No we didn’t. I-” She sighed, frustrated. “we need to keep them out of this. They’re not ready. We….I just don’t want them getting hurt.” Artemis said looking at him finally. “You realize you sound exactly like the league did whenever they talked to us how many years ago? And how fair was that? From the looks of it, they’re pretty well trained. Keeping them away and locked up isn’t preparing them for what’s out there…” Wally waged on, pleading with her He touched her shoulder with a gentle hand. 

   “Wally. Being a parent has changed me okay? I don’t think like the crazy twenty-year-old like you remember. Now the twins are my number one and I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to them.” Artemis looked more sad than mad. Wally studied her face for a moment. He was about to speak again or maybe he was just gonna stare into her eyes a bit longer like he always did when she was upset. “We’re on a mission.” Artemis broke the eye contact suddenly. She peered over finding Dick in the crowd who stood off to the side in his civvies and dark sunglasses. He nodded to her, the signal to get into position as the debate was about to begin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Everyone ready?” Jai questioned looking at the team. The teens stood before him all suited up in their respective costumes and gear. They all nodded at him. Jai had taken charge. Robin was not particularly enthused to be taking orders from him, but he hadn’t come up with any better plan. “Alright. Everyone remembers the plan? Chris and Colin head in first-” Jai’s recap was short-lived and interrupted by a loud bang. The team’s heads all turned in search for the source of the sound. It had echoed throughout the cave and the source was hard to distinguish.

   Chris immediately stared straight at the front entrance to the Cave. The new boy of steel slowly inched closer, as a second crash seemed to hit the wall. Everyone else noticed and crept up behind him cautiously. The slams continued, the bangs happening more and more frequent. Chris snapped out of the shock and confusion. He used his x-ray vision to peek outside and see what the source was. The second he saw, his eyes widened. “GET DOWN!” The Kryptonian screamed, flying and reaching for Jai knowing he wasn’t meta. Irey reacted quickly and grabbed Damian speeding him away, while Rachel grabbed Colin, as Miguel created an energy construct of a giant shield. The team gathered under it. Bunker held up the purple, brick-like shield with both hands struggling a bit, as Chris held Jai down, protecting his friend. The rest of the lot stood defensively under the makeshift barrier, protecting them from this unknown invasion.

   “What the hell is that?” Robin called to Miguel, who had the best view. “No se? It looks like someone literally crashed our door in? With a giant battering ram?” He said, holding the debris up from hitting the team. “Someone call the League...Like now!” Chris said. “Abuse to League. Code red. We have a massive problem. Intruders at the cave. Only the team is here. Requesting full League response. I repeat, we have intruders.” Colin said into his earpiece. “What do we do?” Irey asked. There was then the sound of yelling and hum of large running vehicles outside. 

   “Batman to cave. We’ve sent several leaguers down. what is the status.” The sound of the Dark Knight’s voice rang through their earpieces in its usual monotone. “It sounds like we're being attacked. Big force we're trapped in the cave." Colin answered. "Sending Leaguers over immediately. Do not engage. Batman out." The Dark Knight was gone and the sidekicks were once again left alone and stuck. Bunker had to continue holding his energy construct or the mass would completely crush the team. “That wasn’t a direct order right? He can’t expect us to just be sitting ducks!” Impulse said loudly, cleared frustrated. “No but we should listen to him.” Jai responded. “I can speed out of here and get a head start before the League shows up…” Irey pressed on. The sounds outside grew louder and the yelling intensified. The team couldn’t make out what was being said or if they were even talking to them at all. The team didn’t even know who “they” were. “Impulse don’t. We don’t know what we’re fac-” Chris was cut off. “eh eh eh that’s not a bad idea ese...me and Rae can’t hold a whole wall up forever.” Bunker called from under the wreckage that they were managing to hold up, but he was right. The weight wasn’t letting any lighter. The wall that had collapsed was being pushed further upon Bunker and Raven. They maintained a firm grip, but time was running out.

   Before anyone else could talk Irey was gone. She had zipped past them and through a small gap in the cave’s wall. Pushing herself through the narrow hole, small fragments sliced her skin, but it was already speed healing. Impulse soon found herself outside on the grass before a large armada of military vehicles. Helicopters, trucks and armed soldiers the whole sha-bang. She heard a familiar click and their weapons were aimed at her. Back in the cave the entire wall seemed to be coming down around the team. Miguel and Rachel both struggled. “Where’s Impulse….” Robin asked suddenly noticing her disappearance. Jai sighed and rolled his eyes. “We gotta get out of there she’s gonna need back-up…”


	9. Chapter 9

   Bright helicopter lights flooded the small amount of grass left exposed around Mount Justice. The rest of the surrounding property was occupied by the oncoming attackers. Irey stood in front and center having just emerged from the collapsing cave. She was greeted by an ambush. They all aimed their weapons as soon as they noticed the brightly colored uniform.

   She stood completely still, her green eyes darting around looking for a place to run or a point of weakness she could take advantage of. Suddenly there was an explosion. Nightwing, Tigress, Flash, Black Canary, Miss Martian, Superboy and an assortment of other Leaguers landed in and began attacking. The ambush took the standing offenders by surprise. With this distraction, Irey sped off into the action, which had become a sea of fire and yelling.

    Meanwhile, the remaining members of the team were still inside the cave. “Guys guys, I can hear the League, they’re here!” Colin said using his super hearing. “Then let’s get out of here!” Milagro shouted. Colin flew up and pushed the wall back out of their way. “why didn’t you do that like 10 minutes ago?” Jai grumbled. Colin sighed and flew out, the rest of the team behind him.

   Jai ran out of the mission room to find a computer. He quickly stumbled upon the Command Room. A room Dick and Babs had only referenced. It was the central room for all the mainframes and security systems. Thinking quickly, Jai (like all legendary team members) disobeyed protocol and specific instructions to stay out and hacked the password protected room. Once inside Jai took in the sight of the latest Justice League Technology. Pushing his dark hair out of his eyes, he scanned searching for a way to make his non-meta self, useful. He soon spotted something he could work with. Logging on and quickly guessing Nightwing’s password, Jai was able to turn on several camera outside the cave. Including a camera all the way up on the Watchtower, that was set to show the entire mountain. Bringing up as many angles of the cave up on the monitors. Jai tapped his comm, concealed inside his ear

   “Jai to League and Team,” He said simply. “Little busy turtle.” Came Irey’s reply. She was, in fact busy. She was literally running circles around some men who had given up trying to take her hostage and began open fire upon the teen. “What is it, little man?” Nightwing asked, disregarding Iris’ comment and rather began helping her efforts in fighting the armed goons. “I got angles on the cave. Oh, Ma you got two bozos trying to your left.” Jai warned to his mother, zooming in on two attackers. Tigress turned and saw the two attempting to sneak up on her. “Thanks,” She said appreciatively.

   “You little...Colored me impressed...In the Command Room huh. Kudos.” Dick said in between punches, and in near disbelief that Jai thought of such a plan, and figured out the means to carry it out. “Thanks.” Jai said typing in some codes to see if there were in any secret defensive systems in the mountain he could utilize while he was at it. “I really think we can do this,” He added. As if he spoke too soon there was a bang and then a loud clang. The Command Room door had been smashed in with a battering ram and several army goons stood at it. “Shit!” Jai yelled, he quickly typed in codes to shut down any classified information. “Put your hands where I can see them!” One of the large men ordered two more aiming guns. The room was narrow, making it hard for Jai to even see them through the path reflections of screens and monitors. He continued anyway, he needed to make sure they couldn’t get into anything. Locking in the two layers of encryption in record time, one of the men fired the gun. He jumped, it startled him. “Woah! I stopped don’t shoot!” He yelled in pure fear. These soldiers were completely unpredictable at this point.

   “Stand! Put your hands up!” The one in charge shouted. Jai quickly stood with his hands raised defensively. Breathing heavily, any plan to try to fight them was scrapped...he was corned. _“Miss M?”_ Jai said mentally. _“Jai? What is it? What’s wrong?”_ His Martian aunt quickly picked up the fear in his tone. “ _I’ve…”_ Jai’s thought was cut off, the invaders that had somehow got inside the cave were cuffing and pushing Jai out of the command room.

    _“Jai!”_ M’Gann called out mentally. The Martian quickly relayed the message the rest of the League. Elsewhere, Wally sat bored out his mind in the bioship, which sat in camouflage mode out of the way of the action but close enough that M’Gann could summon it, should the need arise. Wally heard the news of his son being taken and instantly stood. _“I got him.”_ Came Superboy’s voice over the mental link, despite it sounding like he was in the middle of something. _“No! I got it!”_ Wally called out to the rest. There was a moment of silence before Dick spoke _“Wally. No offense but you know we’re not sure how or if the Speed Force messed with your speed….”_

  _“I can do it. He’s my son. We’re wasting time….”_ Wally replied over the link. Despite not getting any formal approval he was already lowering the bioship to the ground. Star Labs had run tests and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Dr.Thompson only suggested he take it easy for a while. Wally hadn’t actually used his speed in full-force for a long distance since his return. But Wally knew one thing...his son (whom he had just met) was in danger and it was up to him to help. As the ship was close enough to the ground, the ex KF opened a hatch and jumped through it. He was definitely rusty but stretched a little, and then went for it.

   Nothing about having superspeed had changed. The wind in your face, the feeling as though you were gliding or almost flying through the air and were invincible. Everything looking like it was moving in absolute slow motion. Wally was a streak of colors once again Artemis caught a glimpse of him speeding towards the large hole in the side of the cave and almost missed it. For a moment, she didn’t think it was Wally. He was faster. Much faster. A trail of electricity followed him as he was soon gone into the cave.

   Once inside, Wally sped straight through and over the wreckage in the Mission Room. _“Jai?”_ Wally called over the mental link. He then heard a commotion, reacting quickly, Wally was suddenly aware of much faster he had become. _“Dad…?”_ Jai asked hesitantly over the mental link. He wasn’t quite sure he had heard correctly, but at this point he’d take any help he could get. Getting held at gunpoint wasn’t exactly in an Ops Manager job description. Wally sped around the corner and was sent almost full force into the small squad that had captured his son. Skidding past them, there was then a fire of guns. Dodging quickly, Wally sped in fearlessly scooping up Jai. Closing his eyes Jai feared the worst, but when he opened them he was in his father’s arms and speeding back out of the cave. _“Got him!”_ Wally said triumphantly to his comrades over the link.

    Surprised by this Artemis responded, _“Wally be careful...the raid’s gotten worse…”_ The uneasiness in her voice was enough to set Jai off, but his speedster was so caught up in his victory he underestimated what was now waiting outside; the reinforcements. The moment Wally emerged from the Cave the attackers shot a taser into his side. The force launched Jai out of his arms and went skidding to a stop on the ground next to his father.

   “JAI!” Artemis screamed aloud. She quickly kicked her current opponent down in a rage and the downfall only snowballed from there. The protective mother ran as fast as she could, but they were already taking him along with Wally into custody. They noticed Tigress’ distraction and fired a taser into her back “ARRG” She fell hard, twitching. The tasers were made to stop metas.

   Iris looked over at the sight of her mother, the strongest woman she knew getting taking away and her heart sank. And then immediately Impulse noticed all the League’s forces were failing. Nightwing picked up on the failures as well and ran up and grabbed Irey, throwing her over his shoulder and pulling her into a retreat. Superman called from his comm to the rest of the Leaguer’s on site ordering everyone retreat. “Nightwing no! They have mom!” Impulse protested nearly in tears. Robin awaited the two, he looked relieved to see her unharmed. “Rob, watch Irey, I’ll go see what I can do about hostages.” Robin nodding agreement and when he turned his head to see Irey she was speeding off in the opposite direction.

   “IMPULSE, NO!” Robin practically was screaming as Impulse sped out of the Mount Justice, past him, and past the small hideout the remaining members of the League sat idly waiting. She was going faster than she’d ever gone before. The sound of rapid gunfire and explosions mixed with yelling, toppled and the sounds of a swarm of military helicopters, which were only getting lower and closer, consumed the entire parameters of Mount Justice. Irey zipped towards her family and she could just see them being pulled into the farthest military vehicle all three on their backs unconscious. The speedster forcefully bolted through the minefield, zig-zagging and dashing through and around the valley of attackers. It was a lost battle. They were outnumbered. It was all down to Impulse, Robin, Nightwing, Flash, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and a few assorted team members. Even their strategic retreat was failing.

   The sound of electricity was heard and sparks and guns became so overwhelming Damian had to cover his head with his cape for a moment. When he looked up he could see something he didn’t believe to be possible. A tall yellow figure vibrating faster that he had ever seen a speedster move. This thing was darting around Irey in what looked like a speedster-showdown of sorts.

   “No way….” Damian heard the Flash say. “Zoom??!?” the scarlet speedster asked louder. Damian turned his attention back to this Zoom character, just in time to see it launch itself towards Irey. He watched bewildered as the two seemed to be evenly matched. Impulse defensively dodged every attack thrown at her, in a standoff of speed. But then something changed. It appeared as though this ‘Zoom’ was accelerating, if that was even possible. Like he was now commanding the electricity and controlling an unseen force. In a millisecond, the Zoom launched itself at Irey one last time and hit her. Smack. Straight down, full-force. Irey fell and was laying flat on her stomach, her arms and limbs sprawled out.

   “IMPULSE?!” The Flash called out to his long-time sidekick. Before Bart could do anything Zoom began running around Irey who only showed a small sign of movement since falling. Zoom circled her. Faster, and faster and faster. He created a twister. A huge twister of lightning all by itself. Damian could barely hear as Bart said something fast about the cyclone eliminating all oxygen inside of the epicenter and henceforth, that meant in short, Zoom was basically strangling Irey. And The Flash was off too, in pursuit of his protege. Bart bolted forward past his team into the battlefield that had been created outside the base. The Flash raced straight into the small twister and began attempting to stop it. He ran in the opposite direction, to no avail, the Flash sped himself into Zoom. Forcing his mass into the mysterious entity, hoping to get him away from his sidekick. All Damian could see was the flashing and blend of colors; a clash of red and yellow. He felt incompetent. He wanted to run in and do something, but the little voice in his head told him that it would only make this whole ordeal worse. The next thing anyone knew Zoom was pulled away from Impulse with the Flash atop of him. There was more spinning and soon Bart was launched backward towards the rest of the group.

   Looking back over at Zoom he made his way back to Irey and Damian could tell by the way he approached her, the sick bastard was smirking, pleased with his victory. He bent down and examined the knocked-out hero before picking her up, and carelessly flinging her over his shoulder and making his way to the one of the military trucks.

   “GET YOUR GODDAMN DIRTY HANDS OFF HER YOU SAVAGE” Robin shouted only to be grabbed by Nightwing to prevent him from going after Zoom. Superman collected the Flash. “Retreat.” The Man-of-Steel said a bit more forcefully than the first time he said it, 10 minutes ago. “LET ME GO. COWARDS” Robin yelled again. The remaining few stealthily made their way to the secret entrance to the secret tunnels in and around the Cave “She’ll be okay Robin.” Dick said his eyes narrowed, “I hope so…” he muttered under his breathe as they all disappeared together.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah!! thanks so much for over 700 hits! I'm so sorry about the delay, I've suffered some major writer's block. Hopefully, I'll get back on track soon! For now, enjoy chapter 10!

   A bucket of ice cold water being tossed her face was what awoke Iris up. She gasped and jerked awake, accidentally taking in some of the water. Coughing for a moment, her eyes adjusted to the bright lights and began to panic. The young speedster began to rapidly tug at her metal restraints around her arms and legs that suspended her. Before long Irey realized something. Something was wrong. Very wrong. She wasn’t speeding. Her movements were the slowest she’d ever witnessed her body move. This only added to her panic, but then she became aware of the inhibitor collar locked tightly around her neck. Her eyes began to focus and adjust. Iris was in a lab. But a lab she was quite unfamiliar with. It wasn’t Star Labs or any Lab the League owned. This one was completely alien. It looked so sterile. So pristine and white. Everything was organized and polished in a way that was completely unwelcoming.  
   Iris felt the water that had been thrown at her wash down her body, making her, even more, uncomfortable, if that was even possible. She was suspended by chains that seemed quite out of place in this lab against a wall. Her red hair was coming out of her usual perky pigtails and her costume tattered and some blood dried around her cuts. And then she felt it. Pain. The inhibitor collar didn’t just stop her speed. It stopped her metabolism; she wasn’t healing at the excelled rate she was used too. Soreness in her limbs from bruising and the stings of various scrapes and cuts came over her. The speedster next became aware of the figure that joined her in the room.  
   It stood off to the far corner. A tall mass that appeared almost like a man, but something wasn’t quite right about it. The memories of the battle and her family suddenly came back and Irey realized this figure was the man she had fought. Her face scrunched up and she began to shout  
“You! Where’s my family!?!” She called out angrily. Irey was answered with silence.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   “You must have some sort of plan!” Damian complained. Back at Mount Justice, the remaining heroes converged to work on their new strategy. Most were off, getting treated in the medical bay while others worked on repairing the damage.  
   “We have to regroup and plan together.” Nightwing consoled his younger brother  
“Isn’t that what we’re doing right now?!” Robin countered. He paced the floor, fists clenched tightly. Nightwing stood stationary, in the middle of the cave’s kitchen, one of the few places that wasn't damaged, or looted and left a disaster by the enemy. Dick was currently running scans for League or team signals but it was taking a while. Most equipment was damaged in the fight, so finding them wasn’t going to be easy.  
   “With Zoom, it’s going to be tricky. But I’m guessing his location isn’t going to be a total mystery…” Bart said in thought. The Flash was eating, of course, as the last bits of his wounds from the fight speed-healed.  
  “What do you mean?” Nightwing asked skeptically. “Well, I suspect it’s no coincidence Zoom just so happen to want to help and just so happen to be the one to capture Irey. So, I guess he’s got some kind of revenge agenda and wants to take any chance he has at getting some.”  
Robin stopped pacing to pay attention to the Flash’s words. Before he could weigh in, his father entered and spoke.  
   “The government would never allow him to kill any of them. If that happened, they have blood on their hands and they cannot afford that.” The Dark Knight spoke as he brooded through the kitchen and then made his exit, despite Nightwing’s attempt to speak with him. “Unless they try to cover it up.” Damian grumbled, agitated at the lack of action.  
“What we know so far is that they’re holding Wally, Jai, Tigress and Impulse somewhere. I say likely in the DC area.” Nightwing said examining recorded security footage on his laptop.  
   “But if Zoom’s involved he could have sped them anywhere in the world by now,” Bart added in. The Flash walked over and stood by Nightwing. “Yes, but see here…” Nightwing froze the frame of their attackers locking Artemis, Wally, and Jai in a government vehicle. “It’s likely that those three are together somewhere with some feds. If Zoom is working with them it’s more than likely he took Irey to the same place.”  
“Unless they have some kind of alternative deal and let him take her and do what he wishes!” Damian crossed his arms. “Damian, look we’re scanning for signals and coming up with a thought-out plan. I know what you’re feeling right now but acting this way won’t make any of them come back any faster, okay?” Dick turned to his younger brother and spoke firmly. He was met with his familiar glare, but he eventually nodded.  
   Batgirl ran in, her cowl down, holding her own laptop. “I got something!” She said triumphantly. “Let’s see it,” Dick said as Barbara put her computer down on the kitchen bar beside his. They all gathered around it.  
“Wherever they are currently, it can’t get any signals. But, Jai and I started working on a new upgrade that would allow us to track the history of team and league signals. It hasn’t been perfected yet, but what we have so far we put on his comm. The last known location of Jai is here.” Batgirl zoomed in on the map that has a red dot labeled “Jai” and a timestamp of exactly three hours ago. “I was right. DC….near the Pentagon. Makes sense.” Dick said carefully examined it. “If I had to bet, I’d say they’re there.”  
“You don’t think that’s a little obvious?” Barbara asked. “I mean, who knows what other top-secret facilities that have around there.”  
“I agree with Gordon.” Damian nodded. “They may be barbaric assholes but they’re not stupid.”  
They all nodded in agreement. “Okay, I want several squads around the perimeter of the pentagon. Stealth-”  
“Does that mean the team can help?” Damian interrupted. Dick sighed. “I suppose. But they’ll be assigned with a Leaguer. We’ll put Chris and Colin with Superbo-”  
   “UGH! What is with you not trusting us?!” Damian shouted. “Hey hey, calm down…” Barbara said putting a hand on his shoulder. “Yes calm down, that’s not the discussion we’re having right now. Right now I have a leaguer, two team members and an ally in the enemy's’ hands.” Nightwing closed the computers and began to make commands over the comm.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   “The name. Give me his name.” The Zoom stood inches from Irey’s face. She glared straight back into his face which appeared mostly human except for the gleaming red eyes. He looked smug; as though having this much control over her was satisfying.  
“I’m not telling you anything.” She spat quietly. Much to her surprise, he left her mask on. In fact, he hadn’t touched her at all since the capture. She didn’t want to question the luck but it was like he was holding back. “Tell me, do you know my name?” Zoom questioned. “King Asshole? Sir Dickhead?” Irey replied, a little immature sure, but he had her family. The man chuckled before slapping her clean across the face. Irey’s head whipped to the right as a red handprint stung her cheek. She let out a breathe keeping her head to the side, looking away from him. Zoom stepped closer grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him. “I’ll ask again. Tell me the Flash’s name. His real name.” He demanded holding her chin in place.  
   “I don’t know.” Impulse replied flatly. “Yes, you do. You probably know a lot of leaguer’s names don’t you?”  
She shook her head. “Nope.” He began to get angrier. “I am Zoom. The Flash’s greatest enemy.” He said proudly, in a low tone. “How come I’ve never heard of you then? Can’t be that great…” she muttered. He shook off her childish insults and walked over to a door on the other end of the room. “Let’s try this again.” He opened it and pulled out Artemis. She was handcuffed and gagged with an inhibitor collar around her neck. There was a small gash her head bled down the side of her face, along with other bruises and wounds littered her body. Zoom dragged her by the handcuffs and forcefully shoved her on his knees before Irey.  
   “You know Tigress, I trust?” Zoom asked, amused by the fear in both of their eyes. Artemis looked like she had just woken up but her eyes looked fearful and Iris was just frozen in fear. Zoom pulled out an inhibitor collar remote. He pressed its button and Impulse was shocked. She screamed out and Artemis’ scream was muffled by the tape over her mouth.  
“Whoops. Wrong button.” Zoom said sarcastically before pressing the other button with shocked Tigress with the same force.  
“NO!” Irey shouted. “I see we have an understanding now,” Zoom said. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know, and you’re going to tell me now. Or Tiger lady here, is gonna get zapped.”  
Artemis shook her head to Iris, as though telling her not to talk. Irey shook her head back at her mother fearfully, completely conflicted.  
   “I don’t hear talking….” Zoom taunted before pressing the button shocking Artemis.  
“MOM! NO, STOP IT YOU BASTARD!” Impulse screamed, thrashing at her restraints.  
“Mom? Ohhhh...oh my, this just got interesting….”


	11. Chapter 11

   “Alpha squad is in position. Beta Squad?” Nightwing asked over the mental link. He decided on taking Robin with him, along with Wonder Girl.  
“Beta Squad ready,” Batgirl replied. Her, Miss Martian, Raven and Bunker made up Beta. “And Delta?” Nightwing asked. “Delta Squad, ready.” Superboy responded along with Abuse and Lor-Zod*. Thanks to Batgirl and Nightwing’s hacking skills, they were able to pick up signals coming from underground, near the Pentagon, and pinpoint a general location. They figured there must be some sort of entrance in the wooded area surrounding where the signals were coming from so they deduced it was probably a secure facility underground. Alpha’s mission was to try to find it. Beta’s was to have Miss M search for anyone and be ready to go in should she find anything. Hopefully, she would get close enough to get in range with Artemis, Irey Jai or Wally. Delta’s mission was to keep watch, be the reinforcements should a firefight ensue.  
With their delegated assignments, the heroes waited in their positions around the approximated points of this base.

~~~~~

   “How long have…” Wally suddenly spoke and then trailed off. He and Jai had been placed into a differently holding room, separate than Tigress. Both were bound with handcuffs and inhibitor collars.  
“What?” Jai asked in response to his father’s quiet beginning. “If we don’t make it out of here...I want to know...How long has Nightwing and uh...Tigress been...you know.” He asked quietly. It seemed silly but the curiosity was killing him.  
Jai sighed. “Maybe a month.” he shrugged looking off into the dimly lit room. When the teen’s eyes returned to his father, he looked to be deep in thought. For some reason, Jai could never figure out, his father was very concerned with his mother’s relationships and it was very obvious.  
   “Every since I can remember he’s been around. Not in the romantic way you’re thinking of. He would tell us all these stories about you…” Jai noticed his father had perked up in interest so he attempted to go on. “He told us about the missions and the good old days. Sometimes it was like he was bragging about the fact he got to be friends with you. But he was always around when we needed him. He helped her raise us. That’s all. It wasn’t until recently they got you know...involved. You should know how much of a badass mom is, but she’s still human and I think your ‘death’ really affected her for a while.” Jai said sincerely.  
   Wally nodded. “She is a badass.” He mused and Jai nodded his head in agreement. “I think it was harder for her because us. You left her with us. Unintentionally of course but especially Irey...I always thought she reminded her of you. The way she's just...she's so….” he struggled to find the words. “A nerd,” he said bluntly after a pause, and almost chuckled to himself. Wally let out a soft laugh. “It’s true.” Jai said, “From everything I ever heard about you...from him or mom...it sounded like they were just talking about Irey sometimes.” Jai said reflectively looking at his father and for the first time, making a real connection with him. Wally shook his head knowing it wasn’t exactly the best time for a laugh with his teenage son. “But..dad...we will get out of here,” Jai reassured.  
“You think?” Wally questioned. “Of course. Mom and Impulse are like...the two biggest badasses on the planet.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Meanwhile, Irey was spitting expletives at Zoom. He had since begun torturing Artemis with powerful swings stomach as she was defenseless having her limbs bound. With his new information on Impulse’s relation to her, he had the upper hand. Delivering another strong swing to the archer’s abdomen, Zoom turned back to Irey, who was still chained up.  
“I told you! I don’t know his name! What do you need it for?!” Iris demanded to thrash with all her might against her restraints.  
   “Speed!” Zoom shouted. “I want his speed. He is the fastest man in the world you know. With it, I can become faster. And I can’t get that without knowing his name. So I can find him. Attack him while he’s weak. Threaten his family if I have too...”  
“Then take mine,” Iris said with no hesitation. If it meant saving her mom, Iris would do anything. “Impulse, no…” Tigress warned from the floor several feet away from her. Zoom looked at Tigress and then back to Impulse. “You are not as fast as he-” Zoom began in his inhuman voice, but Irey cut him off. “Yeah I know." the teen admitted, swallowing her pride. "but with yours and mine your connection to the Speed Force will be stronger and you'll definitely be faster than Flash and if you let her go. I’ll cooperate.”

~~~~~~~~~

 

   “Beta Squad. Report.” Came Nightwing’s voice over the mental link. “We have a visual on the entrance. I’d bet big money they’re in there, ese, three armed guards.” Bunker replied. “Can we get a mental image to confirm they’re in there?” Nightwing asked.  
Batgirl, Raven, and Bunker were all hidden behind a dark corner in this underground facility. It was cave-like with tunnels that twisted and turned. It dimly lit but not unoccupied. They’d been able to stealth their way to this point when they discovered two large steel doors, which appeared to be so dense, a speedster might have trouble vibrating through it. Batgirl nodded to Raven whose eyes began to glow. She began soul-searching for any signs of their missing comrades. Seconds later, her eyes faded back to normal and she gave a grim nod to Batgirl. “We don’t have much time,” Raven said over the mental link.  
   “Move in. Alpha is right behind you. Delta holds position. Stand ready.” Nightwing delegated mentally. “Bunker you’re up,” Batgirl said. Bunker nodded and took a step away from his squad and swung his fists together, creating a purple beaming energy construct. His powers worked similar to Green Lanterns, in that whatever he wanted to create at will, he could. Suddenly making his presence known the guards, then drew their weapons. His attack took them by surprise and their bullets bounced right off the battering ram of sorts he had created. Once passed the guards Bunker ran in and took a large swing at the doors. It made a dent but nothing more. Batgirl and Raven had moved in and knocked out the guards but the sound of more running towards them from a distance could be heard. Batgirl reached into her utility belt and pulled out a few explosives and placed them strategically around the steel doors. Within seconds and in a cloud of smoke explosion there was a hole just big enough for them to get through.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

   Meanwhile back in Wally and Jai’s small cell, they heard an explosion. The pair perked up and looked at each other. “Do you think-” “It’s the rescue squad, Dad!” Jai exclaimed. Jai stood the best he could with his hands and ankles bound, but still managed to do so. He started throwing his body into the walls of the dark room that seemed almost closet like.  
“What are you-” Wally started. “Letting them know where we are!” Jai said throwing his side into the wall, careful not to hit the inhibitor collar, in fear it might go off. The two could hear a commotion coming closer and closer when they finally came into range of the psychic link. “Hey! We’re in here!” Jai cried mentally.  
   “Jai! Beta squad is in pursuit. Is everyone okay?” Came Nightwing’s voice to Jai’s relief. “Dad and I are. I don’t know where Impulse or Mom are...we were separated.” Jai informed him. “Copy that. Beta will be there soon. Alpha squad move in. We have to find Impulse and Tigress asap.”  
   Soon Wally and Jai could hear the fight happening right outside the door. They backed up from the door to allow it room to be kicked in. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of explosion and gunfire. Suddenly they heard Raven’s familiar chant “Azarath metrion zinthos” and the door to their confides began to glow and suddenly unhinged and was thrown to the side. Wally and Jai emerged and looked outside to see the Beta squad had successfully secured the area. Raven chanted again and removed their collars.  
   “Where are Tigress and Impulse?” Batgirl asked. “We don’t know, they took them somewhere else...” Jai answered. “Okay. Bunker, you take these two to safety, Raven. You and I will find them.” Batgirl said. “But-” Wally interrupted but Batgirl quickly stopped him. “We don’t have time to argue. Go.”  
“Beta to Alpha. Bunker’s taking Wally and Jai out of here. We’re probably going to need both Miss M and Rae to find the others.” Batgirl thought into the psychic link as Bunker, Wally and Jai left. “Acknowledged,” Nightwing replied as he, Wondergirl, Robin and Miss Martian approached their location. Both Batgirl and Nightwing pulled up hollo-maps of the facility as Raven and Miss Martian searched for them mentally.  
   Robin crossed his arms impatiently. “This is taking too long! They could be dead by now and all we’re doing is sitting around like fools!” he shouted. Before Nightwing could scold him, Miss Martian's eyes faded to the normal coloring “NO!” she cried. “What is it?” Dick asked. “We have to go. Now.” The Martian floated and flew, leading the now two squads off down the hall keeping her fingers pressed to her temples. Raven and Wondergirl flew behind her as the rest ran. They neared the end of the hall and found door tucked away from the rest. From within they could hear a commotion and voices. Raven and Miss M worked together using their telepathy to unhinge the metal door. Once it was off, Nightwing, Wondergirl, and Robin rushed in, unsure of what awaited them.  
As they burst through the metal door they saw the syringe drop and heard Zoom give a menacing laugh before disappearing in a flash of blue light. Leaving Artemis tied up in the corner, crying silently and Irey motionless, on the cold hard floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Lor-Zod: Ok thats Colin Kent he's been in here before he just needed a codename and in the comics he goes by Nightwing which is weird but it would just be too confusing for this so I chose to use his kytronian name


	12. Chapter 12

   “What happened in there? Dick? Are you listening to me? Is that…” Wally had finally found his way to the medical bay when immediately bombarded Nighting with questions. After he returned to Mount Justice with Jai and Bunker, the League took them to have a quick medical check. Once they were both found to be fine and not brainwashed or something, Batman ordered they debrief exactly what happened. Wally and Jai both tried their best to answer the Dark Knight’s seemingly endless train of questions. Both were anxious to see what had happened with Artemis and Irey. The extensive questions suggested something had in fact happened.  
   “Give us some room” Dick said dismissively to the small group that had gathered to see Artemis and Irey. It was then he noticed Dick was holding Artemis’ hand and he felt his heart sink a little. He then thought it best to try to focus attention to Irey. Both women were unconscious in the medbay. The resident doctors had just cleared them for visitors, so naturally the team and some Leaguers swormed. M’Gann, Connor, Cassie, Barbara, and the team included.  
   Wally pressed his way through with Jai behind him. Once through the pair found it was Damian Wayne pushing everyone away, standing closely to Irey’s side. “Give her some room.” he said forcefully to the team who was curious as to Irey’s condition. Jai looked him up and down once, giving the Robin a stink eye. One of the nurses was standing close looking quite confused.  
   “Um, what’s happened? Is she alright?” Wally asked. The nurse looked up from her clipboard. “Well, you see, that’s the problem. She’s normal. Everything is reading absolutely normal.” She said. Nightwing looked up from Artemis to the nurse’s words. He stepped over to the foot of her bed. “What do you mean?” He asked skeptically. “Well, if you look here, she has a bit of bruise right under left eye. It’s been there since she arrived an hour and a half ago.” She said pointing out the black and blue spot in the shape of Zoom’s wide palm. Everyone seemed confused by the statement, except Damian who uncrossed his arms narrowing his eyes in thought. “Wait.” Jai said. “Why would that...how could that be possible? She’s never had a bruise for more than twenty minutes…” Jai asked.  
The nurse looked back down at her clipboard and then back to Irey. “All the signs are pointing to her not being a speedster anymore.”

 

~~~~~~~~~

   “So…..” Wally sighed out, attempting to give a casual tone, but only making the situation way more awkward.  
“So,” Dick said looking between Wally and Artemis as she entered the Cave’s kitchen. She rolled her eyes despite feeling the tension herself. Dick looked at her expectantly.  
“She didn’t take it well. Punched a wall....” Artemis huffed. Dick almost chuckled, “should have seen that one coming.”  
   Wally sighed rolling his eyes. “And? She’s just incurable?” Wally asked impatiently.  
“Wally,” Nightwing said looking at him suddenly with serious glance. “What?” Wally asked.  
“She’s not sick. You can’t just treat her like...like this is necessarily a bad thing. I know you missed the whole ‘parent’ thing, but you need to understand what she’s going through right now and you’ve all people should.” Artemis scolded.  
“What do you mean?” Wally inquired.  
   “She’s not sick. She’s actually normal. You can’t just act like she’s sick. If she’s stuck like this, you need to just unconditionally support her.” Dick interjected.  
“Woah woah. I certainly don’t need you telling me how to treat _my_ daughter.” the redhead put his index finger into the unmasked Nightwing’s face. He put his hands up defensively and before he could respond, Artemis stepped in. “Wally. I know where you’re coming from, but he knows Irey.”  
Wally angrily cursed and stormed off.  
Artemis sighed rubbing her temples and Dick glanced at her sympathetically. Once Wally was completely out of sight he pulled her into his arms.  
   “I know...I know. He’ll come around. Eventually.” He rested his chin on top of her head.  
“Eventually…” She repeated almost laughed. “He was gone for sixteen years and he’s still just as stubborn.” Artemis wrapped her arms around his torso, taking in the comfort he offered.  
“I probably shouldn’t have stepped in like that. He is right...to a degree.” Dick sighed.  
“No. You have every right too. He’s just-” The conversation was interrupted by Jai, clearing his throat.  
   The two pulled apart and Dick left his arm around Artemis’ shoulders. “Hey Little Man, what’s up?” Dick smiled.  
“Uh, is dad ok?” Jai asked shyly. Artemis nodded “Yes. He’s fine. Just a disagreement.” Jai gave a slight nod. “Don’t worry” Dick reassured.  
   “Iris I must insist you rest for a little while longer!” Came Dr. Thompkins’s insistent voice. The three looked up to see Irey. She walked into the kitchen coming in from the medical wing, followed by Dr. Thompkins. She wore nothing but a hospital gown. Her red hair was free and frizzy out in its natural glory, and she looked miserable.  
“Hey Red, how are you holding up?” Dick asked. He was answered with a dramatic sigh. “I’m not hungry and I think I’m dying,” Iris said looking at the kitchen cupboards. Artemis chuckled. “You’re not dying. I promise.”  
Dr. Thompkins crossed her arms standing off to the side. “Iris. Bed.” The doctor demanded which was met with another dramatic sigh. “I’m fine. I’m standing aren’t I?”  
Leslie rolled her eyes. “Iris. Just one more hour of monitoring, and I’m out of here. You’re only prolonging this.”  
   “I thought normal people didn’t need fancy doctor’s monitoring their everything.”  
“Iris, stop being dramatic.” Jai huffed, crossing his arms. Iris rolled her eyes and walked up to Jai putting a finger in his face. “You know what, Turtle? Oh wait. Fuck. I’m the turtle now….” Irey trailed off, looking away.  
“Oh no…”  
“Oh boy…” Artemis and Dick said together. “I’m the turtle.” She said more firmly. “Iris-” Dr. Thompkins tried to step in. “No. No. I _am_ the turtle.” She said again, raising her voice. Leslie stepped up her putting an arm around her shoulder. "Let's go." She said calmly. Dr. Thompkins led Irey out of the kitchen and back down the hall to the medical wing. "Jai West, I swear if you start calling her Turtle now..." Artemis began just imagining the horror. "Don't worry. I won't....I'll just have to come up with something original." Jai snickered. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

   "They got away? You let them get away?! Do you understand what you've done? You said you could handle them. You gave us your word, Zoom. Now you've defiled our trust and they got Intel that could expose our entire operation!" 

"Don't worry, General. I've got it covered. They won't get too far. They won't know what hit them. You're also underestimating what I took. They may have stolen information....But I have speed. I'll be unstoppable." 

"Are you sure? How can you know?" There was a loud clutter and a short lived shout for help and one of the General's men fell to his knees, lifeless. "Never underestimate the Speed Force, General." 


	13. Chapter 13

   “Alright you guys remember how this works?” Nightwing eagerly asked his team of young heroes. They all stood around him in the mission room of Mount Justice. “Teambuilding? You think we really need it?” Chris asked crossing his arms. Nightwing nodded. “Yes. It’s been a while. Trust, communication, teamwork. It’s what makes this team work.”  
   “Well I think it’s a great idea.” Jai said sincerely standing amongst the team. Damian rolled his eyes, his Robin hood pulled back, leaving only his domino mask, yet the scowl on his face was still very apparent. “Great. Why does he have to be here?” Damian grumbled. “Because I’m apart of this team.” Jai said flatly. Everyone else seemed to back up seeing what was about to unfold.

   “Guys…” Nightwing tried to step in. “Tt...you wish.” Damian said in a low voice and looking away from him.  
“What, Wayne? You know I never understood what exactly your problem is with me. But what I do understand is that you’re a stuck-up little shit.” Jai replied as Damian angrily rolled up his sleeve. Rachel rolled her eyes and Milagro pinched the bridge of her nose backing away slowly. “Guys stop it!” Chris yelled sticking his hands up. “Do I really have to be here, Dick?” Irey asked. “Yes, Iris. Of course, you do.” Nightwing said. He was trying hard to keep calm as Damian was charging at Jai, delivering a powerful shove.  
   “I’m not even a part of the team anymore…” Irey mumbled. “What?” “Que?” Rachel and Milagro looked her confused. “Irey, of course, you’re still apart of the team.” Colin chimed in. Before Nightwing could replied he rushed in to grab Damian swinging fist. The two had not separated, causing a bit of chaos. Damian stepped back, freeing his arm from Nightwing, letting out a tempered sigh. Dick thought the ordeal was over and that’s when Jai decided to go in for the hit.  
With a grunt, Damian sputtered backward gripping his jaw. “Jai! What the hell?” Irey yelled moving inward toward the action, but Damian had already thrown another punch. “Woah!” Chris shouted using his super strength to help Dick pull Damian back. Irey went for her brother as the rest stood back. “Unhand me, Kent” Damian growled but he was too strong. Once the two were pulled apart Damian stalked off in the opposite direction. Jai forcefully shook his sister’s grip from his arm and he zetaed off. Leaving Nightwing with Irey, Chris, Colin, Milagro, and Rachel.  
“Real effective team building,” Rachel said sarcastically and Milagro chuckled

 

 

//Flashback -3 years ago//

 

   “Oh yeah, this will be super effective.” Irey giggled looking around at the team, all geared in their respective uniforms in the back of Mount Justice on the wide beach. “Look, I know this seems elementary, but we have two new team members. Welcoming Abuse and Bunker is an important step we need to take. If we want to succeed in our missions, trust and teamwork come first. Alright, so the activity is called Minefield.” Damian raised his eyebrow curiously. Across the beach, there are batarangs and birdarangs. It’s simple, birdarangs go boom and batarangs don’t. You’ll all partner up and one will be blindfolded. The other must communicate them to collect as many batarangs as they can, whichever team gets the most, wins.” Nightwing instructed. “Win what?” Damian asked crossing his arms.

“You’ll just have to find out,” Dick said slyly. “Now pair up.”

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

   Irey sat on the floor of her bedroom at home, flipping through an old spiral notebook. The West/Crock home was peaceful and quiet with everyone in their respective rooms for the night. Including Wally in the guest room which was only partially awkward. Irey wore a pair of Superman pajama pants, she swore she only wore ironically as the Saturday night drew close to nearly midnight.     Despite the impending AM she didn’t seem to be slowing down her work. The pages of the notebook were torn and charred and barely staying in place, and yet she carefully flipped the pages scanning each one intently. To her left she had another notebook, this one new, and she was filling the blank pages with newly transcribed notes from the old notebook. Her eyes strained to make out the writing and decipher pictures and diagrams.  
   Her bedroom door flew open quickly with a sharp force and she immediately slammed the old notebook shut. Her reaction would have been seamless, and the intruder might not have noticed it if she still had her speed. But Damian Wayne definitely noticed. Irey looked at him, cocking her head to the side, “Dami? What are you doing here?” she asked curiously.  
   “I was in the neighborhood. What is that?” He asked, pointing to the materials around her on the floor. Iris closed the other notebook and condensed everything into a small pile. “Uh, well, just some research for a project,” she said pushing it off to the side. Damian sat on the floor in front of her, looking a little skeptical. “What project?” He inquired. Irey sighed. “Can you keep a secret?”  
“Depends, what’s going on here?” He pressed further. Irey took a breath looking him in the eye. “Well...I’ve been trying to do some research and looking into some way I can get my speed back. My resources are obviously limited but I was at my grandma’s house the other day and I found this.” Irey held up the old notebook. “It's the notes my dad used when he was trying to recreate Barry’s original lab experiment.” Damian took the notebook into his own hands examining the first few pages. “You do realize the experiment calls for getting struck by lightning right?” Damian asked. “Yes, but if I have to wait for a thunderstorm I will,” Irey said boldly. “It’s not whether you’ll be able to find the lightning, it’s the getting hit with it that’s a bit concerning….”  
Irey sighed pulled her knees up to her chest. “Damian. Speed has been a part of me for as long as I can remember. Without it, I’m sure I know who I am.” Damian gave her a stern look. “Don’t be stupid, West.” Irey shot him an annoyed look. “I’m serious. That’s not something you should be messing-” Damian tried reasoning but Iris interrupted. “-and once I have my speed back I’m going back and kicking Zoom’s ass, kill him if I have too with whatever he’s planning.” She muttered fiddling with the notebooks at her side.  
   “Justice. Not vengeance.” Damian said and Irey almost laughed “starting to sound like Batman.” she mused. “Well, he pounded it into my head until I stopped believing that vengeance and justice were the same thing….”  
“I remember. We were younger and you would do that pouty thing you do and you’d have to mumble it over and over so you wouldn’t kill anyone.” Irey giggled. “I was different then. But I learned he was right and killing Zoom, won’t solve anything.”  
“What are you doing here?” Irey asked suddenly remembering the Wayne had just walked into her room unannounced. “Oh. I was just...your mom let me in.” Irey gave him an odd look. “So...you only came over because my mom let you in?” she raised an eyebrow. Damian sighed. “I came to see how you were doing. It’s been what? 3 weeks? You still seem...off.”  
There was then an angry knocking at Irey’s door. “Iris shut up, I’m doing homework.” Came Jai’s voice. Irey sighed and stood up opening the door. “Deal with it, Turtle.” Irey crossed her arms. Jai rolled his eyes “you know, I’m not the only turtle here anymore”. Irey’s eyes went wide. “Hey!” Damian stood up from his place on the floor. “What is he doing here?” Jai asked surprised. “Turtle? Really, West? Real mature.” Damian stood beside Irey in the doorframe and she wasn’t quite sure what to do. “Are you kidding me? She’s the one wh-”  
   “What’s going on here?” Wally had emerged from his room upon hearing the commotion. Obviously, it had woken him up “Damian?” he asked, also surprised by his presence. “Mr. West.” Damian nodded. “What-What is going on?” Wally asked again. “Well, where do I begin? Iris is being loud and obnoxious as usual but now with the added Wayne demon child” Jai began. “Okay shut up Jai! You’re the one that has his panties all in a twist” Irey added using all her registrants to not shove her brother. “Okay..okay no. it’s midnight. Stop this...nonsense.” Wally said yawning.  
   “I should go,” Damian said pushing past the group. He headed down the stairs quickly before Irey could say anything. Once they heard the front door close Wally looked at Irey. “what was he doing here?” he asked suspiciously. “He just showed up, we were just talking,” she said defensively. “With the door closed?” Jai half teased, half said only in an attempt to Irey in trouble.  
   “What?” Wally was now even more confused. “It’s not like that Jai and you know it!” Irey raised her voice and Jai rolled his eyes walking the short distance back to his room and slamming the door. Irey let out an overly irritated groan and slammed her own door in response, leaving Wally wondering what the hell just happened.  
   The “new” dad walked back down the hall almost in a tired daze. He walked past the former guest room he was currently calling his own, and straight to Artemis’ door. He gave a light two knocks before entering. Artemis laid in bed on top of the covers with a book. Her hair pulled out of her eyes in a messy bun, and in a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. She peered up at him curiously. “I almost got up, sounded like you had that handled.” she almost laughed. Wally chuckled. “Barely. Damian Wayne. What’s the deal with Damian Wayne?” He asked. Artemis shook her head “trust me...you do not have to worry about that kid…”. She set her book down, inviting Wally to sit with her on the bed with a soft pat on the dark comforter. He sat and ran his fingers through his ginger hair.  
“How do you do it?” He asked simply looking at the wall. “Two. two kids. All by yourself, I mean.” Artemis sighed putting her book down. “Patience. Practice. I remember when I didn’t know it was going to be kids, plural...the thought of one kid freaked me out enough…”

 

//Flashback 16 years ago//

 

   “Twins. Dick. Fucking twins?” A pregnant Artemis paced up and down the foyer of the Wayne manor. She looked absolutely drained. Her hair was lazily put in a ponytail and soaked over from the rainstorm currently looming over Gotham City. Her swollen stomach poked out of a dark sweater showing her to be no more than four months pregnant.  
   “Artemis. Stop. It’s 3am. What are you talking about?” Dick grabbed her shoulders, looking tired. His one night off was interrupted by Artemis suddenly at the door.  
   “I went to the doctor’s today, Dick. They told me I am having twins. Twins. Like two humans. Two of them. Two babies, Dick. And it took just until now for me to get it. What the hell am I gonna do?!” Tears welled up in Artemis’ eyes. Dick looked at her seeing the sorrow and instantly knew that this wasn’t just about having twins. He pulled her into a tight hug and let her cry it out.  
After a while, he took her hand and led her up the stairs to his room and tucked her into his bed and laid beside her.

   “Wally would be so excited” Artemis breathed out after a moment of silence. Dick nodded. “He would. He’d be scared shitles, but twins? What are the odds?” He mused. “One in a hundred.” she replied back and Dick smirked. “You’ll have help. You’re going to be fine.”  
Taking a deep breathe Artemis finally agreed. “I’m going to be fine.”

 

//Present Day//

 

   “I’m going to be fine….that’s what I had to keep telling myself. One day at a time.” Artemis said remembering. “And that’s how I still do it.” Wally nodded laying back on the bed alongside her. “I just broke up a little dispute... it was...hard.” Wally said. “Yeah.” Artemis laughed. “It is but don’t sound so surprised. And I overheard. They’ll get over it.”  
   “So, this kind of thing happens all the time?” Wally asked curiously looking over at Artemis. “Sometimes. You’ve seen them, they’re usually pretty well behaved, but they know how to push each other’s buttons and be little assholes.” Artemis said her eyes growing heavy, letting out a yawn. “Do you think that they’ll-” Wally glanced once again at Artemis to see her eyes closed. “Artemis?” Wally whispered. He smirked, she had completely dozed off, and suddenly the idea of sleeping sounded extraordinarily appealing. I’ll get up in a second, Wally told himself. But soon his eyes felt as though they weighed a few hundred pounds and was out like a light.


	14. Chapter 14

   The Crock/West’s front door opened early the next morning with a burst of energy. And for once it wasn’t a super villain or evil force interrupting them, it was just Dick Grayson, sporting a toothy grin and large box of donuts from his favorite bakery in Gotham.  
   “Good Morning! I come bearing gifts!” He called, using the spare key Artemis gave him years ago. He was greeted with only Jai who was sitting leisurely, in PJ’s, at the kitchen table. Alone, he sat with his feet up, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and his tablet in the other; hacking, most likely. Dick raised an eyebrow at him.  
   “They’re all sleeping.” he said putting his tablet down eagerly eyeing the box of donuts.  
“It’s 10:30” Dick responding glancing down at his watch.  
   “10:30, in the morning. A Saturday morning.” Jai replied. Dick sighed putting the box of donuts down on the table and heading for the stairs. He made his way down the hall to Artemis’ door giving two quiet taps before opening the door quickly. Dick expected to his favorite blonde archer in her bed...he, however, did not expect her to be in bed with someone else.  
   “Uh….” He let out a reactionary noise of confusion, and Artemis suddenly jerked awake, she had never been a heavy sleeper. She rubbed her eyes as they were greeted by the light from the door. Looking up at him, she pushed her hair away from eyes and the blanket away revealing Wally beside her, still under the covers and out cold. Artemis looked from Dick to her bedside clock, and then back to Dick.  
   “What’s going on?” Artemis asked sitting up, and running a hand through her hair and rubbing her eyes.  
“Um...why don’t you tell me?” Dick said flatly, not quite sure what to think, and motioning to Wally who was still asleep. Artemis turned her head to see his the backside of Wally with his messy red hair, and his sleeping form.  
   “Dick...you don’t think-” Artemis began, thinking it blasphemous he even in the slight imply that something happened. She stood up and walked over to the doorway to face him.  
   “I don’t really know what to think.” He said definitively, cutting off her pleas and turned and walked back down the hallway. His exit, however, was interrupted by Irey who still looked half asleep, she stood in the middle of the hallway. But she now awake and looked confused.  
   “Dick? Where are you going?” She asked curiously. He looked at her only briefly and couldn’t think of something to say, before brushing past her and going down the stairs and out the front door, without another word.

 

~~~~

   Irey and Jai exchanged a look. The pair stood several steps in front of their mother’s bedroom door. It had been several silent hours since Dick’s entrance and brisk exit. The twins’ parents had not come out of Artemis’ room since and they were getting concerned.  
   “Does this mean mom and Dick are going to...break up?” Irey asked in a whisper.  
“I don’t know,” Jai responded staring at the door expecting it to open any second.  
   “They didn’t fight,” Irey said pacing a bit, thinking aloud. Despite her powers being gone and her connection to the Speed Force being severed, Irey still maintained her speedster mannerisms. Short attention span, natural quick wit, and of course, pacing. She never did stop moving.  
   “What?” Jai asked, confused by her statement.  
“They didn’t fight. We would have heard yelling. And they’re not yelling now. If there wasn’t a fight, what happened?” Irey asked. Jai narrowed his eyes in thought. Something obviously did happen, and the question remained.  
   “You don’t think that he-” Irey began but she was cut off by the sound of two comms beeping. The twins once again glanced at each before going to their respective rooms and putting their Team comms in their ears.  
   “Nightwing to Team. Report to the Mission Room A.S.A.P.” Came Dick’s voice once they answered the comm.  
Irey gave a fleeting glance at her mother’s door once again, as Jai put a jacket on and headed down the stairs.  
   “Iris. Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll send her a text and let her know. We gotta get to the Zeta.”

 

//Flashback 2 years Ago//

 

   “So you’re telling me, that you created this big undercover, secret mission extravaganza and you didn’t have a contingency plan for say I don’t know, a team member seeking vengeance?” Iris asked flabbergasted by the story she had just heard. The 14-year-old sat parallel to Dick and Artemis in the Cave’s lounge with Jai and Damian. The older pair had just told the great story of Artemis’ deep cover mission with Aqualad into Black Manta’s organization.  
   “Well, I wouldn’t say M’Gann went seeking vengeance… But yeah...We never thought she’d mind-melt Kaldur.” Dick said sitting back in his armchair.  
   “I mean… Even if we knew she was planning on attacking him, what could we have done to stop her?” Artemis mused looking from the kids to Dick.  
   “Talked sense into her. Reminded Meg that justice prevails or we never go to their bad guy's levels. Anyway…” Dick changed the subject looking back to Irey, Jai, and Damian. “The point of the story is trust. On any team, we must trust each other. And that’s hard.” Dick nodded to Damian and Jai insinuating one or both boys were having their...issues.  
   “But what we do is dangerous and can get complicated. And you guys do this because we trust you. You need to trust that and each other and that takes time and is earned. The only way to earn trust is by allowing yourself to put aside your differences” Dick has gotten quite good at inspiring speeches for the Team. He had had nearly twenty years under his belt.  
   Jai and Damian exchanged a short-lived and awkward glance before looking back to their mentors.  
“Trust is earned,” Jai said. “I’ll trust Robin in the field when Damian makes an effort to be trustworthy.” Jai dismissively and walked off, arms crossed. Damian rolled his eyes.  
   “A bit melodramatic don’t you think?” the Robin sighed.  
“Well, he's right don't you think Dami? You never listen to him when he’s helping ops manage.” Irey countered.  
   “I’ll listen to him, once something comes out of his mouth worthwhile.” And with that, Damian stalked off in the opposite direction.

 

//Present Day//

 

   “Alright, team. Time for the briefing.” Nightwing said pulling up the main computer.  
The Team assembled and gathered, Robin, Abuse, Raven, Bunker, Lor-Zod, and Jai and Irey in their civvies. Irey awkwardly crossed arms over her chest feeling so out of place being at a mission briefing in her civvies. She felt weirdly naked as she became more and more aware that everyone was gearing up for their first team mission since she was stripped of her powers. Irey started to notice everyone sneaking in quick and pitiful glances back at her. Her team would soon be leaving without her. The thoughts and anxieties consumed her mind so much that she almost, well basically missed the entirety of the debrief. Something about Santa Prisca and recon was all Irey picked up.  
   “Everyone clear? Any questions?” Nightwing asked. “Alright. Lor-Zod, you’ll take the lead on this mission. Jai will be here managing, as always. I expect a report from both of you when the objective is fulfilled. Good luck out there.” Nightwing gave a nod and zeta-ed off as the team giving a final fleeting look to Irey headed off to the hanger.  
   “Ready?” Jai asked her, snapping Irey back to reality from her thoughts.  
“Ready? Ready for what?” Irey asked curiously. Jai pulled up two rolling chairs and sitting down at the holo-computer.  
   “Ready to see where the real action is, of course,” Jai said, obviously joking. Irey hesitantly sat next to her brother who was searching through some folders on the screen.  
   “I know you’re just trying to make me feel better. But no offense, how exciting can sitting her and basically just waiting even be?”  
“Oh come on. I’m like the overseer of everything going on here. Like here check this out.” Jai’s usual quiet tone seemed to grow more excited as he showed her some seemingly boring files.  
   “While the team is traveling, I’ve gotta find all the info on Santa Prisca as I can. Anything that might help. So here look. June 19th, 2010. There was a factory there. Run by Bane. Our dad went there with the team to investigate his factory and fought Kobra cultist.” Jai read off an old mission report. At the mention of Wally, Irey perked up.  
   “What about mom, was she there?” Irey asked.  
“Well, let’s see….” Jai scrolled through the lengthy report. “She’s not listed in personnel...but however...she did not join the team until August of that year.” Jai read from a new file he had found on their mother.  
   “That is actually pretty interesting,” Irey admitted looking on with Jai.  
“Told you so,” Jai smirked. “Anyway, I get to read up and be the expert. Listen in on your comm conversations, which is kinda like an action movie you can’t see and stars your close friends and or sometimes family. And hack anything in the area for intel.” Jai said proudly. Pulling up another old mission report to read.  
   Not long later, Chris’ voice ran through the comms. “Jai. We’re landing in Santa Prisca.”  
“Copy that. Locking in the ship’s location marker so everyone knows where to rondevu. And I’m on standby.” Jai said. Pulling up a second screen displaying a map showing the ship and each team member’s location.  
   “So now we just sit and wait?” Irey asked and Jai simply nodded. “Don’t you ever get, anxious? Like you don’t know what’s going on…” Irey questioned and Jai shrugged.  
   “Part of the job, I guess. Worrying. Especially when it’s been quiet for too long. I know you guys are busy kicking ass or being stealthy but checking in every once in awhile would be nice. Just to know you’re not all dead. I’d hate to have to make that phone call.” Jai said and Irey thought about it. She had never considered Jai’s point of view before. Just sitting here not two hours into the mission was making her nervous.  
   Suddenly an alert came to Jai’s computer. “What’s that?” Irey immediately asked.  
“Something for me to hack!” Jai said excitedly. His fingers glided across the holo-keys and suddenly he was into surveillance cameras. Only two but he had eyes on the exterior of some building on the island.  
   “What are we looking at?” Irey asked again, sorta wishing she understood more of this stuff. “Trying...to figure that out….” Jai said half annoyed trying to pinpoint the location of the camera on the map to see where it was and in relation to where the team was. As Jai was busy hacking, Irey noticed something move on one of the cameras. She narrowed her eyes and pointed.

“Look!”  
   Jai looked up to see what his sister had spotted. And he tapped the comm in his ear” “Team. I’ve got eyes on two armed goons. They are approximately half a mile from your location.”  
   “Acknowledged.” Came Chris’ response.  
“What comes next?” Irey asked eagerly, sitting forward in her chair, carefully eyeing the armed gunmen on the screen.  
   “We got a long night ahead of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOO. This is my first time posting since the official Young Justice SEASON THREE reboot. I just want to put out there that this show means SO DAMN much to me. It was what got me into comic books. Without it, I honestly wouldn't have met some of the most important people in my life. Yes, I was one of those nerds who immediately after finding out the show was canceled, was protesting, email campaigning, petitioning and just absolutely SHITTING on the network for taking an amazing show off the air. And here I am, 3 YEARS later STILL going on about how much I love his show. I am so beyond excited and just full of love and pride for the fandom that's still going strong~Symbiosis~


	15. Chapter 15

   “...And then I want you to use your heat vision and just wail on them! OH, and Rae you can hit them with a little Azarath stuff, right in his face and then oooh Abuse, dude, you gotta just nail him right in the-” Irey’s excitement was cut off with Jai’s wagging fingers and motion for her to be quiet. You could almost hear the team’s unanimous sigh of relief.  
   Not having any control over this mission driving Iris absolutely insane. It wasn’t even that she was the team’s leader who could make such suggestions. In fact, Chris had actually made a great leader for the past year or so.  
   “Ok guy’s the weapons that these goons are carrying are not your typical guns. They’re ray guns. League scanners are telling me they’re loaded and have almost endless rounds and shoot a lethal plasma stream. If the info on these is up to date, Chris is the only one that withstands the blast, Colin and Rae and Miguel, your powers might be able to hold it off but only for a little bit. The stats on these things are pretty impressive, so be careful.” Jai warned, reading the information quickly.  
   “Thanks, man. Anything else we need to know?” Chris asked quietly into the comm.  
“That’s all I got for now. The best defense for you would just be to disarm. Other than that, good luck and check in every half hour?” Jai spoke back.  
   “You got it, chief. Alpha Squad out.” With that, the connection was, for the moment, halted. Jai put a pause on the over-watch stuff and turned to Iris who was now focused on her cell phone.  
   “What are you doing?” He asked noting her sudden change of focus. Irey looked up, breaking her concentration and it took her a second to realize what he had asked her.  
   “Oh. Uh.” She put the phone in the back pocket of her jeans. “Nothing. It’s there’s just suppose to be a big thunderstorm tonight.” Jai raised an eyebrow; she seemed deep in concentrated thought.  
   “So?” He asked reaching for his mug of coffee and sitting down in that black leather swiveling chair he loved so much.  
“Uh. Nothing. Just a weather update.” Irey said awkwardly, avoiding his eye contact and headed out of the mission room.

 

~~~~

 

   Irey checked behind her back, ensuring Jai didn’t follow and no one had come up from behind. She pressed her thumb to the keypad of the double doors that locked Bart’s laboratory in the cave. He used it for “sciencey stuff”, according to Irey. Time travel was always of interest to him and the Speed Force of course, which was a tricky subject. However, it was perfect for and had all the tools Irey needed.  
   “Okay, we got work to do,” Irey said quietly to herself, unlocking the back corner supply closet. She checked her watch, there were approximately two hours before the first flash of lightening was forecasted to strike near Happy Harbor.

 

//Flashback 3 Years Ago//

   “So your Uncle Barry and I have been calling it being a ‘Speed Force Conduit’. That’s what we are. The unlucky souls who have connections to the Speed Force. Jai is too, you know. We ran a few tests. Even though he lost his speed when you guys were young, the connection is pretty strong.”  
   “Well, I think we’re very lucky! Having speed is the greatest!” Bart patted the shoulder of his young apprentice. The impromptu speedster lesson, a crash course in the Speed Force had gone quite well. Of course, eager Iris had plenty of questions throughout the discussion Bart had opened.  
Bart chuckled. “Just wait until you have your first run in with the Speedforce….or better yet, hope you never have one.”

//Present Day//

   “Iris?!” Jai called, he had just got the latest check-in from the team and was sure his sister would love an update. He opened the door to Bart’s lab and found things were in a manner of disarray. There was a messy trail of papers on the ground seems to be blowing from a breeze and the lined pieces of paper appeared slightly damp. Jai then looked around a small corner of lab equipment, and there was a tall ladder placed where a majority of the papers seemed to have landed and rain was flowing in. The hatch to the roof had been blown open, allowing a chilly breeze to sweep through the lab, and rain from the oncoming storm was flooding in. Jai cocked his head.   
   “Iris?” He called out again. Louder, as the winds from outside were picking up. He got no response. Jai stepped up the ladder cautiously pulling his sweatshirt’s hood over his head, as the rain was just starting to dampen his hair.  
   “Irey? Are you up here? What are you-” Jai reached the top of the ladder to the roof of the new Mount Justice. It was built to resemble the mountain it once was and stood rather high. There was a long flat landing area on top of steep ascending exterior that mimicked a real mountain.      Toward the edge, Irey stood her hair soaked, holding a device of their father’s invention. A remake Irey had complied herself. A remake of the container of chemicals which got both Wally and Barry their speed in the first place. The container, Wally invented. He called it the ‘Speed Machine” in his old notes. It was designed to hold the chemicals and be used as a conductor to attract the largest bolts of lightning, for the best speedster results.  
   “Iris...Is that?” Jai squinted his eyes, he recognized it but did not want to believe it was something his sister would do what he thought she was about to do. Thunder rumbled over the harbor and the sound of that, rain, wind and the waves from the nearby shore were crashing. Irey didn’t seem to hear him.  
   “Irey! Put that down! You know how dangerous it is!” Jai bellowed keeping his distance, knowing what it was capable of, had Irey built it right. But this was Irey he was talking about science was her thing.  
   Irey suddenly noticed Jai and looked over at him and she smiled.

 

~~~~~~~

 

   “Well, I say it was a job well done, everyone.” Chris smiled as Colin piloted the team’s plane back to Mount Justice, carefully through the storm.  
“Yeah, ese, those goons were easier to take down than I imagined.” Miguel commented, pulling his mask off his eyes and kicking his feet up.”  
   “It was really all thanks to Jai. That intel was spot on. We got the bad guys and the flash drive with hopefully all the information Nightwing will need on Bane’s next scheme.” Chris replied and Damian crossed his arms over his chest, his brows furrowed.  
   “What are you pouting for? We won.” Miguel nudged at Damian’s arm and the Boy Wonder brushed it off. “I could have done better,” Damian muttered and Raven let out a snicker. The team landed their plane and made their way through the hanger the Mission Room.  
   “Jai! My man! We got the drive! Nightwing is going to be so-” Chris started triumphantly holding their recon prize in hand. The team looked around the mission room to see Jai’s chair unoccupied and no sign of Irey anywhere.  
   “That’s weird. Jai always waits up.” Colin asked. “And where’s Iris?” Damian mumbled looking around, before pulling up the team tracker from his utility belt. It showed the twins were still in the cave. Damian narrowed his eyes at the small device in his hand and followed the red dots to their supposed nearby location. The rest of the team looked at one another and shrugged before reluctantly followed Damian.  
   They came to the Flash’s lab, the door was left open and they could hear the rain. Damian stepped in a small puddle that had formed from the still open roof hatch and looked up.  
   “Jai? Iris?” Chris called, as they all walked into the lab to the mess that Jai had found not long before them. There was no response other than the wind and sound of low rumbling thunder. They all proceeded to follow Damian up the ladder, Raven, and Chris flying ahead of them.  
   “Woah,” Colin whispered. In the midst of the storm, Jai sat on the floor on the rooftop with his knees pressed to his chest, clothes completely soaked.  
   “Jai. Dude. What happened?” Colin asked while the rest of the team took notice that Irey was nowhere in sight. Damian glanced back down at his team tracker and noticed Irey’s signal was gone. Jai pulled his hood down to reveal his red, teary eyes to look at the team.

“Iris….she’s gone.”


	16. Chapter 16

   “This is just some joke right?” Artemis paced the floor of the Cave’s conference room. Jai sat in a chair wrapped in a blanket and Wally, Dick, Bart, and Barry stood around having just listened to the teen's recount of the evening’s events.  
   “Why would I joke about something like this….” Jai deadpanned. “She was there, holding dad’s speed machine. She recreated the experiment. Lightening and then...point is, she disappeared.”  
Wally and Barry exchanged a look. Both scientists thinking about all the things that could go wrong during a chemistry experiment like that. The possibilities were literally endless, considering their own limited knowledge of the speed force itself.  
   “And you saw her disappear?” Dick asked gently, his arms crossed over his chest, standing quite a bit of distance between himself and the speedsters and Artemis. The tension from that whole situation was another story.  
“Not exactly. When the lightening hit, it was almost blinding so I looked away for a second but when I looked back she was gone.” Jai recounted in a low voice. It had only been a half hour since it happened and Jai was still visibly shaken.  
   “Computer. Give me the location of Impulse.” Dick commanded to the Cave’s system.  
“Locating: Impulse C03.” The computer responded. The silence was deafening as they waited for the computer to announce where in the galaxy she could have been flung. It slowly began occurring to everyone that it was taking much longer than usual.  
   “Error. Unable to locate: Impulse C03.” The computer announced.  
“That’s impossible. This thing has never had that kind of an error.” Dick shot back and pulled out his own holo-computer and began to quickly type away, without another word to the group.  
   “Barry, you went into a coma, I was fine afterward, it doesn’t make any sense. How could she have just disappeared….” Wally thought aloud.  
“Well, it’s not completely illogical to think the lightning you know….killed her.” Bart chimed in, as nonchalantly as possible, and Artemis’ eyes still went wide.  
  “There’d be a body, Bar. Lightning doesn’t just disintegrate people.” Wally defended quickly.  
“Okay, well I’m saying with our limited knowledge of the Speed Force, we don’t know what it’s capable of doing.”  
In the midst of the adults' conversations, Jai’s eyes wandered from them to a sulking Damian in the far off corner. His head was to the floor, his Robin hood still covering most of his head, and his back was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. Jai narrowed his eyes.  
   “What do you know?” He interrupted the rests’ talking suddenly, which he’d already drowned out anyway. Artemis stopped mid sentence and looked at Jai and then up to Damian, as the rest of crowd’s gaze shifted to the boys.  
“What are you-” Wally started looking between the two. Jai stood up, dropping the blanket that had been around his shoulders, and raised an accusing finger towards Damian.  
   “You know something, don’t you? What do you know?” He demanded. Damian looked up at Jai, scowling and then saw the rest of the eyes were on him. He pulled his hood down, and let out a sigh.  
“I didn’t think she was going to actually do it-”

 

// Flashback- 2 Weeks Ago //

 

   “A what?”  
“A speed machine!” Irey said loudly but then quickly lowering her voice to a whisper. “It’s rather simple actually. Xenon, radon, astatine, flerovium-”  
   “Hold on. You’re going to actually, really do this?” Damian had not planned for Iris to follow him home after school, but she had got to talking about her plan to recreate the Flash experiment, and soon found her way into the Wayne’s car. Damian was the only person she had told and was planned on telling, and therefore the only person she could talk to about her progress.  
   “Yes. Damian. It’s foolproof.” She argued as the black town car, driven of course by Alfred, pulled into gates of the Wayne Manor.  
Once inside, the pair made their way to Damian’s room, once the door was shut and out of earshot of any lingering Bats, he continued.  
   “Foolproof huh? Okay. You’re recreating an experiment that was initially an accident. Consequently, all of your data is second, or third hand, transcribed from a dingy, old notebook and you said it yourself, you couldn’t read some of it.”  
Irey took in a deep breathe. “So? I’m a speedster, Dami. It’s in my DNA. My awesome speedster DNA.”  
   “Ah. Another point, you don’t know what the removal of your speed has even done to your meta-DNA. You don’t even know how Zoom was able to take your speed. Also, I wish you’d stop calling me Dami.” Damian said loosening his Gotham Academy tie before sitting at his desk chair, while Iris continued her pacing.  
   “Dami. It’s a great nickname….” She argued, trailing off before finding her train of thought again.  
“I have to do this, Damian. It’s the only way I can be myself again.”  
Damian turned in his chair to look at her briefly, before standing up and stepping towards her. Calmly, he grabbed her shoulders, effectively stopping the pacing and facing her.  
   “Iris. You are smart. I know this because I have trusted you with my life, sometimes, on about four years worth of missions. You are one of the very few people whom I am not actively suspicious of at all times. You’re a lot of things Iris West, but you’re smart and you know that you shouldn’t-” Damian’s speech was cut short. Iris had become all too aware of his cold hands on her shoulder and his blue eyes and his meaningful words. She let her head spin around twice, and came to terms with internally saying screw it and planted her lips on his, placing either hand on his cheeks. Damian was surprised, but eventually closed his eyes as well, and took in her warmth.  
She pulled away suddenly looking him dead in the eyes for a reaction. Had she done something completely so impulsive, that it was entirely wrong?  
That’s when Damian pulled her by the hips in for round two, not caring that their uniforms were getting wrinkled, being pressed so tightly against one another, and certainly not caring what he had been talking about….

 

// Present Day //

 

    “She told me her plan. I thought I had talked her out of it.” Damian summed up what had happened, leaving out certain details, for the better.  
“Yeah you thought you didn't you?" Jai muttered, sarcastically. "And you didn’t think maybe for a second, throwing out there that she had made a speed machine would, I don’t know maybe help that idiot not do something so stupid-”  
   “Jai, sit down,” Artemis said pulling him back.  
“No! This asshole thought keeping a potentially fatal secret was a good idea. I say potentially fatal, mom. She could be dead and we’re wasting time interrogating me about what I saw. When it is him who knows actual information.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

   Irey awoke slowly, as if after a deep sleep. Her eyes soon began to focus on the incoming sunrise peering in from the blinds. Irey sat up slowly, finding herself on a couch in a living room she at first, did not recognize. She looked around and examined the room as the familiarity became pressing. She knew where she was.  
   “Hello?” She called out, it was replied with silence. She stood up cautiously reviewing her surroundings, moving slowly.  
“Hello, Iris.” came an unfamiliar voice.  
   “Who’s there?” Irey shouted back quickly. “How did I get here?” She muttered.  
“We thought you’d be more comfortable here.” The voice said again. Irey looked all around again moving her defensive stance to the nearest corner, so as no one could surprise her from behind.  
“This is my first home...in Palo Alto…” She said aloud, noting everything was how she barely could remember it. The leather couch, scuffed at the sides from the dog. The photos on the mantle of her father. Even the toy bin her and Jai shared that sat near the TV. Her family had moved from there to Gotham to be closer to friends and family. “Why am I here?” She asked aloud.  
   “We thought you’d be more comfortable here.” The voice repeated robotically.  
“Who is this we? What’s going on?”  
   “We are the Speed Force. Welcome Iris, to the Speed Force.”


	18. Chapter 18

“The Speedforce...what?” Iris’ eyes were darting all around. She tensed up and ran for the front door. She opened it and saw the porch, the sidewalk, mailbox and neighborhood she knew, except there were no signs of any other life. Irey’s heart was racing as she walked down the porch steps and into the street. 

“No. This is not what was suppose to happen. I was suppose to get my speed. My speed! This is not what was suppose to happen!” She yelled into the empty road. 

There was gust of wind and a flash of light, Irey spun around to see the sudden outburst and there in front of her was Jai. 

“Jai!?” Irey called out. 

“Not exactly.” He said. “I am the Speed Force.” 

“Then why do you look like my brother?” Irey demanded, slowly inching away from the doppelganger. 

“We sense you miss him now.” This new Jai responded. The lookalike was a carbon-copy, he looked like more of Jai’s twin than Irey. 

“I should have listened to him. I wish he was here right now….he’d fix this. He’d fix all of this….” Irey trailed off, running a hand through her hair. Jai then pulled Irey into a tight hug. It even felt like his hug, and Irey began to tear up. He pulled back and looked her in the eye. 

“Come, Iris. Let’s take a walk.” 

The pair then strode off down the street that was so empty and lifeless. Irey wiped her tears away with her sleeve. 

“How….How do I-” She began but “Jai” stopped her. 

“How do you get out of here? Well, that is a very complicated question. Barry Allen created this dimension. Unintentionally. So there is no purpose of being here. But we know we are here for all speedsters when their speed becomes too much.” Jai spoke. 

“I just wanted my speed back!”  Irey cried at her brother. She wasn’t even quite sure if this was her brother and everything was very confusing. She stared at him and he looked so dream-like. She was too busy staring at him that she didn’t even realize that the “scene” had changed. The twins were both standing in streets of Gotham City in the clear light of a serine sunset, setting over the infamous Gotham bridge.  

“What the hell” Iris muttered. Jai put his arm around her shoulders and took her to the nearest sidewalk. However, the streets were empty. Everything was empty. 

“I’ve never seen Gotham so….people-less. It’s not really even Gotham like this.” Irey looked around. 

Jai smiled and seemed to guiding her in a mindless wandering trail down the uneven sidewalk. 

“Where are we going? Are you taking me to where I can get my speed back?” Irey asked. 

“You have to get the speed yourself.” Jai said plainly. 

“It’s that simple?” Iris asked and Jai smiled. 

“Yes. But simple does not mean easy.” Irey narrowed her eyes and shook off all other thoughts. 

“Okay. Okay, okay. So how do I get my speed back?” Irey asked impatiently. 

“You’ll have to catch it.” Jai said pointing across the street up to a skyscraper. At the top stood a dark, faceless silhouette. 

“What the hell is that?!” Irey asked squinting her eyes to get a better look. 

“Your speed.” Jai said so matter-of-factly, putting his pointing hand down. 

“No, that’s a fucking demon. Or a ghost? I thought we were the only people here.” 

Jai shook his head. “That’s your speed. We are the Speedforce, speed is embodied here. And since we are the Speedforce, you are the only person here.” 

Irey shook away the impending migraine, and glanced her head back up to the silhouette on the rooftop that seemed so tiny and far away.  She took a deep breath.

“I’ll try.” 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“It’s been hours! I can’t catch that damn thing…” Irey breathed heavily as she found Jai back on the empty street corner where she had left him to go after her speed. 

“You can do this, Iris.” the Jai look-alike assured her. 

“I’ve been all over this damn city. And unlike me, it’s got the superspeed. How am I supposed to catch a speedster?”

Jai smiled. “But you are a speedster.” 

“No! I’m not!” Iris argued, turning away from him still catching her breath. 

“You’re in the Speedforce. You are a speedster. You can do anything you set your mind to.” Something changed. Jai’s voice didn’t sound quite Jai-like anymore causing Iris to whip back around and to face where Jai was standing. In his place stood her mother, or rather the Speedforce taking form as Artemis. 

“Mom?” Irey asked aloud and ignoring the seemingly automated response explaining it was not in fact her mother, but rather the Speedforce sensing who would ease her. Irey wrapped her arms around her in tight embrace. 

“You can do it.” 

“I can do it.” Irey repeated taking in the comfort the Speedforce was offering her. She pulled aways to look at her “mother” one last time. 

“I can do this. I am a speedster. It’s in my blood.” Irey affirmed herself one last time before turning around so she could set off to find her speed again. As if Iris had just uttered the magic words, upon her turning around the silhouetted figure had appeared. Her speed was standing right there, facing her. 

Iris turned to look at her mom, but the Speedforce was gone. Her speed stood there presenting itself to her and she couldn’t believe it was over. Was it over? Taking a deep breath not knowing exactly what or how, she reached out and touched it and pulled it into herself. 

Irey suddenly felt the surge of electricity she hadn’t felt in nearly three months and it was as if her she could finally breathe the way she was use to again. She looked down at her hands and could physically see the tiny little sparks coming back to her. Iris felt powerful again. She let out a choke of laughter in a fit of pure happiness. 

“Run Iris. Run!” The Speedforce uttered to her quickly. They didn’t need to tell her twice. Iris took off, letting out a victorious yell. Around her ankles, Irey began to notice a storm forming. Dark clouds circulating, and soon engulfed her whole body, and she kept running. 

“I’m going home….” Irey said to herself and she pressed on faster and and faster, and allowed the storm to move her. 

When it all dissipated, Iris came to a screeching halt.  She finally stopped, her surroundings had completely changed again.  Her eyes adjusted to gloomy skies as she examined what appeared to be Mount Justice. But it looked like a bomb had been set off the side of it. Debris and rubble were scattered across the beach. In the distance, planes and sirens could be heard. Irey couldn’t even recognize the place she had considered a second home. 

“What hell...this can’t be right.” She whispered to herself. The young hero then decided to make her way to the front entrance of the cave. She positioned herself and the zeta beam came out and scanned her. 

“Recognize. Impulse C03.” 

The bright light appeared, accompanied by the sound of zeta and the next thing she new she stood in the mission room of cave. 

Iris was greeted by none other than two guns pointed to her head.

“Woah!” Irey immediately put her hands up defensively. Jai West lowered his aim, while Damian Wayne didn’t move his target.

“Iris…” The twin stuttered out in disbelief. 

“Don’t be stupid, West. How? After all this time. We cannot be certain.” Damian said without looking away. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t in shock or that his heart wasn’t racing, but Damian does not take chances. 

“Okay! What is going on? Why do you guys have guns? Where is everyone?” Iris’ eyes kept darting between Damian and Jai, mostly because of the impending aim for her life, but she knew he wouldn’t hurt her...would he?

“Iris. Where have you been? What the hell happened?” Jai asked. 

“I got transported to the Speedforce. After that whole speedmachine stuff. It’s this crazy dimension, I’m guessing it’s where Dad was for sixteen years. Can you imagine being stuck there for that long…anyway. I got my speed back!” Iris babbled for a moment, but was happy to make her announcement. She then took a closer look at the pair in front of her. Jai seemed taller. His hair now buzzed off on the sides, with stubble along his chin, could he even grow facial hair? He wore all black and had a gun holster on his belt. This puzzled Iris as her gaze shifted to Damian. He had also grown, he looked buffer too, sporting the Bat utility belt, not surprising but something had changed. Something was different. 

Damian lowered his gun for the first time. 

“Iris?” Damian asked aloud, quietly. 

“Dami?” Irey asked slowly putting her hands down giving him a stare of confusion. 

“It is you.” He put the gun in his belt and ran over to pull her into a tight embrace, forgetting Jai was there for the moment. 

“Will someone answer me now? What is going on? Why do you look like this? Am I in the right dimension?” Irey pulled away a little, keeping a soft grip on Damian’s shoulders. She couldn’t help but notice how much stronger he felt.

“Iris. The night you went into the Speedforce. That was a year ago.” 


End file.
